Griffiths Pedestrian Bridge

Linking an existing neighbourhood of high-rise residences to a newly-built high school over a busy roadway, the design mandate for this new pedestrian bridge was for it to be an iconic and enduring gateway to the City of Burnaby.

Its curving form directly responds to the constraints of the site. On the north side, the land rises rapidly from an urban trail, following an abandoned railway easement to a plateau (where the high school was built).

Rather than simply crossing the road at right angles, Fast + Epp created a meandering ‘S-curve’, which allowed the bridge to touch down on the adjacent plateau and reduced the north ramp length by about 60m. The cable-suspended span weaves through its supporting single steel arch, while the southern approach ramp consists of a series of ‘jump’ spans supported on V-shaped columns. We achieved lateral stability through diaphragm action in the path structure, which spans horizontally 100m from abutment to abutment.

With the suspended structure asymmetrically balanced on a single arch and V-shaped supports, we cautioned the client to expect a somewhat “lively” structure. As it turned out, the structure is surprisingly stiff, yet responsive to those who know how to test for it.