The Davenport Skybridge is a pedestrian

cable-stayed bridge A cable-stayed bridge has one or more ''towers'' (or ''pylons''), from which wire rope, cables support the bridge deck. A distinctive feature are the cables or wikt:stay#Etymology 3, stays, which run directly from the tower to the deck, norm ...

that spans River Drive (Highway 67) in

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ( ...

Davenport, Iowa Davenport ( ) is a city in Scott County, Iowa, United States, and its county seat. It is situated along the Mississippi River on the eastern border of the state. Davenport had a population of 101,724 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 cen ...

. It connects LeClaire Park to a courtyard and parking ramp on 2nd Street, located near the River Music Experience. The bridge, completed in 2005, is tall, long, and features columns. It was designed by

Holabird & Root The architectural firm now known as Holabird & Root was founded in Chicago in 1880. Over the years, the firm has changed its name several times and adapted to the architectural style then current — from Chicago School to Art Deco to Moder ...

and Neumann Monson, P.C. At the south end, facing the river, is an

observation deck An observation deck, observation platform, or viewing platform is an elevated sightseeing platform usually situated upon a tall architectural structure, such as a skyscraper or observation tower. Observation decks are sometimes enclosed from we ...

with a view of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

, LeClaire Park Bandshell, the Centennial Bridge, and the Davenport Levee, where many

festivals A festival is an event celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, Melā, mela, or Muslim holidays, eid. A ...

take place throughout the warmer months. The inside of the Skybridge contains

kaleidoscope A kaleidoscope () is an optical instrument with two or more reflecting surfaces (or mirrors) tilted to each other at an angle, so that one or more (parts of) objects on one end of these mirrors are shown as a symmetrical pattern when viewed fro ...

lighting. The lighting consists of 228

LED A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (corresp ...

fixtures and 8,036 individual lights. The LEDs are capable of displaying various patterns. The lighting color and patterns can be adjusted for events occurring in the area, such as a red, white, and blue color scheme for the

Independence Day An independence day is an annual event memorialization, commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or Sovereign state, statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or after the end of a milit ...

; red and green for Christmas; and various other patterns. The Skybridge was a component of the Riverfront/Downtown Davenport improvement program, River Renaissance. The total cost of the structure was $7 million. Iowa taxpayers provided $3.5 million in the form of a Vision Iowa grant, Rhythm City Casino paid $2 million, and the City of Davenport taxpayers spent $500,000 for its initial construction. The Riverboat Development Authority, the agency responsible for distributing some of the taxes collected from Rhythm City, allocated $1.3 million. The bridge's stated purpose is to serve as a tourist attraction with a unique vantage point of the Mississippi River, while also functioning as a safe way to cross the highway.

References

External links

Quad-City Times articles about the Davenport Skybridge
{{Davenport Cable-stayed bridges in the United States Pedestrian bridges in Iowa Tourist attractions in Davenport, Iowa Transportation in Davenport, Iowa Bridges completed in 2005 Buildings and structures in Davenport, Iowa Bridges in Scott County, Iowa Bridges in the Quad Cities Projects by Holabird & Root 2005 establishments in Iowa