The Sundial Bridge (also known as the Sundial Bridge at Turtle Bay) is a cantilever spar cable-stayed bridge for bicycles and pedestrians that spans the Sacramento River in

Redding, California Redding is the economic and cultural capital of the Shasta Cascade region of Northern California and the county seat of Shasta County. Redding lies along the Sacramento River, north of Sacramento, and south of California's northern border wi ...

, United States and forms a large

sundial A sundial is a horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the word, it consists of a flat ...

. It was designed by Santiago Calatrava and completed in 2004 at a cost of US$23.5 million. The bridge has become iconic for Redding.

Location

The Sundial Bridge provides pedestrian access to the north and south areas of Turtle Bay Exploration Park, a complex containing environmental, art and history museums and the McConnell Arboretum and Gardens. It also forms the gateway to the Sacramento River Trail, a trail completed in 2010 that extends along both sides of the river and connects the bridge to the Shasta Dam. Drift boats of fishermen are often seen passing beneath the bridge as they fish for salmon, steelhead and rainbow trout.. In the distance, Mount Shasta is barely visible. Shasta Bally is visible to the West looking upstream the Sacramento. Sundial Bridge (8843646383)

Sundial

The support tower of the bridge forms a single mast that points due north at a cantilevered angle (42 degrees), allowing it to serve as the

gnomon A gnomon (; ) is the part of a sundial that casts a shadow. The term is used for a variety of purposes in mathematics and other fields. History A painted stick dating from 2300 BC that was excavated at the astronomical site of Taosi is the ol ...

of a sundial. It has been billed as the world's largest sundial,. although Taipei 101 and the associated sundial design of its adjoining park are much larger. The Sundial Bridge gnomon's shadow is cast upon a large dial to the north of the bridge, although the shadow cast by the tower is exactly accurate on only one day in a year – the summer solstice, June 20 or 21. The time is given as Pacific Daylight Time. The tip of the shadow moves at approximately one foot per minute so that the Earth's rotation about its axis can be seen with the naked eye.. Back cover.

Design

The Sundial Bridge is a cantilever spar cable-stayed bridge, similar to Calatrava's earlier design of the '' Puente del Alamillo'' in Seville, Spain (1992). This type of bridge does not balance the

force In physics, a force is an influence that can change the motion of an object. A force can cause an object with mass to change its velocity (e.g. moving from a state of rest), i.e., to accelerate. Force can also be described intuitively as a p ...

s by using a symmetrical arrangement of cable forces on each side of its support tower; instead, it uses a cantilever tower, set at a 42-degree angle. and loaded by cable stays on only one side. This design requires that the spar resist bending and torsional forces and that its foundation resists overturning. While this leads to a less structurally efficient structure, the architectural statement is dramatic. The bridge is in length and crosses the river without touching the water, a design criterion that helps protect the salmon spawning grounds beneath the bridge.''Santiago Calatrava's Sundial Bridge: Angle of Inspiration'', Mill Valley Film Group, 2004. The cable stays are not centered on the walkway but instead divide the bridge into a major and minor path. The cable for the bridge totals and was made in England. The dial of the sundial and a small plaza beneath the support tower are decorated with broken white tile from Spain. The bridge's deck is surfaced with translucent structural glass from Quebec, which is illuminated from beneath and glows aquamarine at night. The steel support structure of the bridge was made in Vancouver, Washington and transported in sections by truck to Redding. Sundialbridge2

Budget

Plans for the Sundial Bridge began in the 1990s, when the city of Redding budgeted $3 million for a pedestrian bridge across the river. However, costs escalated after Calatrava's design was chosen in 1996,. and the project became a controversial one within Redding, supported by a small group of doctors, lawyers, and other professionals but opposed by other residents who thought it would be too expensive. and who favored a more "folksy" covered bridge design.. The bridge was completed in 2004, three years later than originally planned, at a cost of $23.5 million, with funding from the Redding-based McConnell Foundation.. The expense was justified on the basis that it would increase tourism in the Redding area, which also features Shasta Dam as another architectural marvel, and it has been successful in that goal.

Tourism

In the fiscal year following its grand opening, Turtle Bay Exploration Park, adjacent to the bridge, saw a 42-percent increase in its visitation. As of 2011, Redding's city manager stated that the bridge "continues to generate millions of dollars worth of commerce and tourism each year".

In media

The bridge is the cover image of a general physics textbook by Serway and Jewett, demonstrating the bridge resisting forces of wind and gravity.

Pink Sundial Bridge

In 2009, Nor-Cal Think Pink, a non-profit organization dedicated to raising awareness of the importance of early detection of breast cancer, received approval from the City of Redding to illuminate the Sundial Bridge in pink for its Think Pink Day. The event now takes place annually."3 nights of pink lights"
Redding.com

References

External links

*
Sundial Bridge official site
(archived) * {{Structurae, id=20002419, title=Turtle Bay Sundial Bridge Bridges completed in 2004 Bridges over the Sacramento River Cable-stayed bridges in the United States Pedestrian bridges in California Bridges by Santiago Calatrava Sundials Towers in California Redding, California Transportation buildings and structures in Shasta County, California Neo-futurism architecture Steel bridges in the United States Cantilever bridges in the United States Inclined towers Buildings and structures in Redding, California 2004 establishments in California