Frederick Gottemoeller - Bridgescape LLC

The Rich Street Bridge is the centerpiece of three bridges crossing the Scioto River in the city’s historic Civic Center. Upstream is the Discovery Bridge, a five span historicist deck arch, downstream is the ultra-contemporary Main Street Bridge, a tilted through arch in the style of the Spanish architect-engineer Santiago Calatrava.  The Rich Street bridge combines the span arrangement of the Discovery bridge with the open appearance of the Main Street bridge, thereby uniting the three into a Family of Bridges.

Railings, lighting and other architectural details reflect the design of the Central Ohio Science Institute and other recent buildings in the Civic Center while emulating the basic scale and rhythm of the traditional architectural details of the Center.   To unite all three bridges at night the space below the Rich Street bridge is lighted to bring out the open arch ribs while the lighting on the railings and abutment pylons use the same colors as the lighting on the Discovery and Main Street Bridges.  The bridge is the site of civic festivals in Columbus, including the Fourth of July celebration, and is the focus of the “postcard view” of the Columbus skyline.