PRESS RELEASE: Project Gait-Way–– After six meetings and nearly a year of community involvement, Charlottesville’s Belmont Bridge re-design is complete. Or is it?
This October, during a tense presentation in Charlottesville City Council Chambers, community members picked apart the schematics created by MMM Design. MMM, who oversaw the re-bricking of the downtown mall, was hired by the City for roughly $1 million to engineer the bridge project. Some community members question whether the efforts so far have produced the design quality expected for the fee.
Stairways were characterized as impractical "Escher" labyrinths. Aesthetics like faux gas lamps and brick described as out of tune with the times. Overall the audience was underwhelmed by the design’s lack of scope and vision – and by the design team’s failure to have incorporated community input. At a meeting a week later, A BAR member called MMM’s design not a bridge, but a "raised road." And one important question remains unanswered: So what happens now?
Community members aren’t waiting for results. They hope to get the results themselves, even if it means finding a new design team. The solution: Project Gait-Way – an unsanctioned $1,000 design competition for the Belmont Bridge to create "an iconic, pedestrian-centric, bike & auto friendly gateway bringing Charlottesville into the next era of world-class cities and communities."
Call it creative protest. Community members felt it necessary to step up, where dialog with the MMM design team seems to have deteriorated – much like the bridge itself. Built in 1960, the Belmont bridge is allegedly near the end of its useful life.
According to MMM’s assessment, the bridge’s reinforcing steel has reached its "corrosive threshold." This rusting is causing the concrete in the bridge deck, sidewalks and piers to lose its bond with the reinforcing steel. The rate of deterioration is accelerating. Hence the closing of the eastern sidewalk. The City is starting the design process before future closure of the bridge becomes necessary. While the bridge still stands, just where the redesign is going is now up in the air.
The competition, soliciting entries from all comers, begins November 29, 2011. Deadline for entries: January 16, 2012. Submissions will be displayed January 18 – 22, 2012 at The Bridge PAI. Judging will be comprised of public vote and a jury of local stakeholders – competing for Jury Award ($1,000), Public Award (prize TBD) and Best Urban Planning Award (prize TBD). The winners will be announced 8pm January 22, 2012.
"This isn’t just a bridge," says Project Gait-Way coordinator Brian Wimer. "It’s an opportunity." Charlottesville will be spending roughly $14.5 million on this new piece of city infrastructure. Wimer asks, "Can we do better than another VDOT asphalt bandaid?" On January 22, the residents of Charlottesville will weigh in on the answer.
For more information, contact Brian Wimer: brian@amoebafilms.tv
Send designs to Project Gait-Way:
The Bridge PAI, 209 Monticello Rd, Charlottesville, Va. 22902.