4 Mile Run Pedestrian-Cyclist Bridge Professional Competition

For years, Northern Virginia’s Four Mile Run has functioned as a flood control channel and a border between the City of Alexandria and Arlington County.  More recently, growing community interest in revitalizing and celebrating the Run has resulted in the Four Mile Run Restoration Master Plan.  The plan outlines a broad range of ambitious, feasible goals to restore the ecology of the Run while re-establishing it as a cherished park space and a means of stitching together communities. 

Bridges are built to connect, traverse, and inspire.  The pedestrian and cyclist bridges planned to reach across the run will be the defining elements in bringing people to the shores of the stream and to each other.  As pieces of transit infrastructure, the bridges will also link neighborhoods, streets, and pathways, thus providing a more accessible and desirable means to walk or bike across the region.  The first of these bridges is to establish the design language for the others to follow, and is the subject of this professional competition.  Taking inspiration from its surrounding natural and industrial elements, the bridge is to be a modern, sustainable, and sculptural piece, spanning clear across the run with minimal impact to the streambed. 

The competition to design and build this bridge begins with a request for qualifications and culminates in a public presentation given by three finalists.  A winning team will be chosen based on the strength of their professional skills and the potential for their conceptual design to become an icon for the Four Mile Run and its surrounding community.

Please visit http://www.4milerun.org/ for more competition details.  The deadline to submit qualifications is 4:00 pm (EST) December 7, 2009.