The Continental Pedestrian Bridge represents an initial installment of the WRT-designed, 2,100-acre park at the center of the Trinity River Corridor Project, the largest public work in the history of Dallas. Rendered obsolete by the construction of an adjacent vehicular bridge (designed by Santiago Calatrava), the historic Continental Bridge was re-envisioned as a pedestrian promenade linking the city’s downtown with West Dallas, a largely Hispanic and historically disenfranchised community.
The promenade features seating, plantings, shade structures, play and water features, chess tables, bocce courts and flexible areas for concerts and gathering—all set within a 2,000-foot long, 50’-foot wide span. A major challenge of the design focused on the age of the bridge, which dates to the 1930s, and its limited capacity for loading (125 lbs/sf for both live and dead loads). In response, the design employed a thin layer of new paving, sheets of weathering steel to contain shallow-rooted meadow plantings, light-weight shade structures in lieu of shade trees, and a misting fountain that does not require a water holding tank.
