Completed in 2002, the Popolopen Creek Footbridge was designed
by DLT to create an economic and aesthetically pleasing river crossing of
140m main span on the Appalachian Trail in Bear Mountain Park, Fort Montgomery,
NY. The bridge is a hybrid of a suspension bridge and a truss bridge and
was designed for ease of construction. The suspension cables alone support
the dead weight of the bridge whilst the live loads are resisted by a combination
of the suspension cables and the truss formed by the suspension cable, suspenders,
diagonal bracings and the deck edge girder. The result is a stiff bridge
that is comfortable to walk across despite having a visually pleasing low
span to sag ratio for the main suspension cables. The deck panels are fibre
reinforced composite panels that bolt to the steel deck frame. Use of these
panels significantly reduced the dead weight of the bridge. Main cables
are anchored to rock at either end of the bridge at the top of slopes leading
down to the bridge.
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