Not quite a passerelle, I suppose, since this proposed crossing is designed for light-rail transit. But since it’s in Portland, it weighs pedestrian and cyclists as equal partners. Indeed, this bridge – the first new crossing of the Willamette River in three decades – will be the first ped-transit-bike bridge in America.
It’s down to the wire for two entries. First, the classic cable-stay:
And second, the wave:
More on the selection process (with more pics) here.
UPDATE: Ron Chin, in the Comments section, makes a good point: the new Canada Line bridge over the Fraser will do everything that the Portland crossing promises – only first.
If you haven’t done so already, have a look at Foster and Partners’ competition entry for a pedestrian bridge in Stockholm, Sweden.
http://www.fosterandpartners.com/News/356/Default.aspx
America meaning the USA no doubt –
as this local bridge seems to fit the bill as a passarelle if the Portland one does:
http://canadalinephotos.blogspot.com/search/label/North%20Arm%20Bridge
Sadly, Portland blew an opportunity to make this bridge useful to buses as well.
Australia got in ahead of America on the transit+bike+ped bridge. Brisbane’s Eleanor Schonell Bridge opened in 2006. In addition to bikes and peds, it serves very frequent bus service linking the University of Queensland to many points on Brisbane’s excellent busway network.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor_Schonell_Bridge
In terms of shared transit infrastructure (tunnels rather than bridges), Seattle’s bus tunnel will be shared with LRT trains in 2009 when light rail starts up (after a retrofit because the original rails installed in the tunnel were not sufficiently insulated for stray current).
There’s also the Mt Washington tunnel in Pennsylvania that is shared by buses and LRTs.
http://pghbridges.com/pittsburghW/0584-4475/mtwashingtonPAT_tun.htm
Actually, Edmonton beat both Vancouver and Portland. It was one of the arguments we used for the path on the Canada Line Bridge.
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/4454923