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Moody Pedestrian Bridge

The Moody Pedestrian Bridge is a pedestrian bridge in Austin, Texas.

Description
The Moody Pedestrian Bridge is a one of a kind Inverted Fink Truss bridge in Austin, Texas. The bridge connects two buildings as part of the Moody College of Communication at The University of Texas at Austin. It crosses over West Dean Keeton Street, a busy street that traverses the campus. The pedestrian bridge is characterized by a series of slender steel towers that vary in height and scale creating an elegant statement along one of the major avenues surrounding the campus. This type of bridge is the first of its kind in the United States, and the only one worldwide with a single support tower as the main loading member. Other similar inverted fink truss pedestrian bridges built in Europe have two towers as main supports. The overall length of the bridge is approximately 300’ (91m) with a slender high tower of 65’ (20m) located at a narrow roadway median which marks the bridge crossing from a distance creating a gateway to the university campus for students and visitors alike. The pedestrian bridge compliments the architecture of the Bello Center, one of the recently completed buildings of the College of Communication. The bridge has integrated aesthetic lighting into its stainless steel railings.

Design and construction
The Moody Pedestrian Bridge was completed in 2016. Bridge Designer Miguel Rosales, of Boston based bridge architects and engineers, Rosales + Partners, provided the Conceptual and Preliminary Design, Bridge Architecture and Aesthetic Lighting Design. Freese and Nichols was the engineer of record. The contractor for the bridge was Flintco of Austin, Texas. Funding for the bridge design and construction was provided by the Moody Foundation, a charitable Texas foundation based in Galveston.