The City of San Diego Redevelopment Agency has commissioned a new pedestrian bridge to connect the new baseball park with the convention center parking lot. This exciting and dynamic project has an architecturally unique design intended to serve as a signature structure for the old downtown redevelopment area.  Structurally it is a self-anchored suspension span built on a horizontal curve.  A sculptured concrete pylon built at an angle to the ground supports the main cables which are in turn connected to a structural rail on the inside of the curved superstructure.  This leaves the walkway unimpaired by cables but requires a large prestressing tendon within the structural rail to balance the torsion forces that are generated.  Backstay tendons stabilize the pylon.  The superstructure is a prestressed concrete box girder section and the cable system makes liberal use of stainless steel pipe sleeves. 

NRV was retained by the contractor to perform construction engineering including integrated 3D shop drawings and staged construction computer analysis.  This required a detailed global 3D computer analysis of the bridge to enforce equilibrium and geometric compatibility at all stages of construction.  Because of the complicated geometry and non-linear nature of the structural system, this presented a technical challenge.  The analysis required attention to the construction details, particularly the cable support system in which force was transferred to the cables through the stainless steel pipes.  Structural and non-structural details at the pylon and adjacent bents are congested. Thus the 3D integrated shop drawings were required to assure there was no conflict.  NRV was instrumental in resolving the conflicts that were uncovered by this effort. This project is presently under construction.  Mr. Nutt is in charge of the construction analysis.  Mr. Redfield is handling the integrated shop drawings, construction sequence and miscellaneous construction tasks that arise.