A reader sends in these high-level photos of the scene around noon on Saturday over Memorial Dr. just east of Studemont, where a 300-ton crane was completing the installation of a few beams of the new Rosemont pedestrian bridge. The vantage point: the 20th floor of the Memorial by Windsor apartments — yes, that’s the new name for the Legacy at Memorial apartment tower, as of a few weeks ago.
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And a view of the same scene from this morning, with traffic flowing underneath:
The pillars on the bayou side will get their bridge pieces later. The bridge is expected to open in January.
- Previously on Swamplot: The Sidewalk Legacy at Memorial and Studemont, Zero Tolerance for the New Buffalo Bayou Bridge
Photos: Swamplot inbox
This is going to be nice since the pedestrian traffic on the Studemont Bridge is getting heavier.
I *hate* the studemont bridge, on bike or on foot. It’s fine for cars, but not for anything pedestrian.
Now please connect this to the Heights proper so I don’t have to deal with the near death experience of Studemont north of Washington.
take the heights trail, connects by Target on Taylor…
3 posts praising the utility of the bridge, and not complaining about the style???
Am I at the right blog?
How long before it’s covered in political signs?
Better be careful what you wish for, Jeff. Wal-Mart shoppers have been known to drive dozens of miles only to walk vast distances through the blinding heat of expansive parking lots. If they figure out that there’s an easy path to saving more and living better, and it goes through your neighborhood, you’re screwed.
Yup, thats true, but it heads east to UHD. I’d love to have a south route to Buffalo Bayou that doesn’t involve competing with roads and cars.
Jeff,
The Houston Bikeways program is concentrating on finishing hike-n-bike trails along the major bayous first. Inter-watershed connections as stand alone trails will implemented after (i.e. years down the road).
This is going to put other local Heights-area bridges out of business. It’s raw materials were probably imported from dagnerous Chinese factories. What kind of people is this going to attract to the area? People too poor to drive their cars around! Annise Parker must be behind this. It does nothing to preserve the historic ambience of the vicinity. All of the profits will just go to some non-local entity. If people don’t like it, they can just use another bridge to cross over. When is the angry propaganda website going up?
I ran by the site Saturday morning as they were lowering the first piece into place…pretty cool to watch.
I think I can see the roof of my house off in the distance in the second picture, and yeah I too rode by there Saturday. Kind of cool to watch, and with Memorial closed it was pretty nice. And no complaints here.
#10
Too funny. Don’t give them any ideas.
Why the name change on the high rise? Did the Queen move in?
Name change is based on ownership/management change. Just like the Transco Tower turned in to the Williams Tower. Just like the Sears Tower is now the Willis Tower.
I wait breathlessly for the masses marching across the bridge shouting “Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité” with Wal-Mart cockades in their hats.
It’s Memorial by Windsor.
@Ray: Fixed! Thanks for catching our mistake.
This looks nothing like the orignal design competition winners from German (or somewhere). Isn’t this the same bridge that was to be named “Tolerance Bridge”. Barf – Glad they dropped that name.
Either they’re not finished the design components or the current design is lame.
rsb320,
The original design was tossed out after much of the public rejected it. Also, how the bridge interacts with flood waters is bigger concern first and foremost before anything in aesthetics play a role. I had a chance to play with the “Tolerance” design and it was a nightmare. The bridge has been streamlined. I like it since it has little visual impact in the scenery yet provides a much needed path for the many who enjoy the trails along the bayou.
This bridge will be so much fun for me to rollerskate on! WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
it would have been nice to have reversed the bridge dropping folks off on the south side of memorial and the one taking them over it in terms of which direction east/west the bridges are going. as it will be built, coming from montrose and allen prkwy, you will have to walk way the hell out of the way east just to get across the bayou. i suspect they did this b/c of the old railroad bridge infrastructure on the north side of memorial, but disappointing none the less.
htownproud,
You will have access to the south side of Memorial. Due to the hydraulics and conveyance of Buffalo Bayou, you couldn’t simply ramp down from the bridge to the south side of Memorial. The designers essentially has to build two bridges. See the alignment in the link below.
http://offcite.org/2010/03/14/the-bridge-formerly-known-as-tolerance
And original design has the bridge doing some impressive circles to attempt to give more direct access to the south side of Memorial from the north side.
Confirming that, the high span crosses both, the lower span (separate) connects memorial and allen parkway. You’ll probably see me on my black trek Magic N, I’ll pull you up the incline. :)
As long as they hang chicken beaks from the span and I can eat my canned beets, I will be happy :) I may join magic on a roller skating tra la la
Rock and or roll.
…then they’ll put fancy LED lights on the bridge, and within a year there’ll be a story on Swamplot on how the city doesn’t have the money to fix them. Oh, and I’ll bet anybody $1 that this bridge will already be tagged with gang graffiti before it opens.
Houston, It’s Worth It.
Any information as to what has happen with this project? The bridges remain unfinished; hoever, the construction trailers have been pulled and all signs of construction have come to a standstill. Has the city not paid the contractor…?