The University of Utah, one of the West's busiest commuter campuses, is building a $5 million landmark to foot traffic.
Announced during Friday ceremonies but already under construction, the George S. Eccles 2002 Legacy Bridge will be 300 feet long, 20 feet wide and suspended from a 90-foot-high single supporting pylon. It's the only bridge on the U. campus and is one of only a few of its kind in the western United States.
It will not only physically unite the two main sections of the university campus and span the five lanes of the busy and pedestrian-hazardous Wasatch Drive — the bridge, designed for pedestrian and bicycle use, is a key element in the university's push for fewer cars on and around the campus.
The bridge will also serve as a memorial to the 2002 Winter Games. It connects the main campus to the Health Sciences Center and the new student residential living area at Fort Douglas Heritage Commons, which will house 4,500 athletes as the Olympic Village next February.
The bridge was included in original plans for the student housing, which will be used by the U. after the Olympics and is now home to about 2,000 students. But funding for the bridge was not included and is being paid for by $3 million from the U. and a $2 million gift from the George S. and Dolores Dor Eccles Foundation.
The bridge will change the skyline "and redefine the U. as much more than a commuter campus," said Spencer F. Eccles, president of the Eccles foundation. "The U. was such a big part of his (George Eccles) life. He would be particularly excited about creating this important campus connection, particularly for the students."
An estimated 31,000 cars travel each week day on Wasatch Drive, which divides the U. campus. Walking or biking between upper and lower campus is largely unheard of, said Randy Turpin, vice president for administrative services at the U. The bridge not only solves an access problem, it addresses a real safety issue for anyone trying get from one side of campus to the other, he said.
U. President Bernard Machen said the university has needed a "safe passage" for pedestrians between the main areas of the campus for many years.
"Now with the safety of of thousands of students involved who are living at Heritage Commons, we had to move forward," Machen said.
E-mail: jthalman@desnews.com