The Leonard P. Zakim () Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge (also known as "The Zakim") is a

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 ...

completed in 2003 across the

Charles River The Charles River (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ), sometimes called the River Charles or simply the Charles, is an river in eastern Massachusetts. It flows northeast from Hopkinton, Massachusetts, Hopkinton to Boston along a highly me ...

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. It is a replacement for the Charlestown High Bridge, an older

truss bridge A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements, typically straight, may be stressed from tension, compression, or ...

constructed in the 1950s. The bridge and connecting tunnel were built as part of the

Big Dig The Big Dig was a megaproject in Boston that rerouted the then elevated Central Artery of Interstate 93 that cut across Boston into the O'Neill Tunnel and built the Ted Williams Tunnel to extend Massachusetts Turnpike, Interstate 90 to Logan I ...

, the largest

highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It includes not just major roads, but also other public roads and rights of way. In the United States, it is also used as an equivalent term to controlled-access highway, or ...

construction project in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The bridge's unique styling quickly became an

icon An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic Church, Catholic, and Lutheranism, Lutheran churches. The most common subjects include Jesus, Mary, mother of ...

for Boston, often featured in the backdrop of national news channels, to establish location, and included on tourist souvenirs. The bridge is commonly referred to as the "Zakim Bridge" or "Bunker Hill Bridge" by residents of nearby Charlestown. The

Leverett Circle Connector Bridge The Leverett Circle Connector Bridge is a 1.7 mile-long highway bridge over the Charles River in Boston, Massachusetts, carrying two lanes each of northbound and southbound traffic. It connects to Interstate 93 (I-93) at the northern end (exit 1 ...

was constructed in conjunction with the Zakim Bridge, allowing some traffic to bypass it.

Design

The bridge concept was designed by

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...

Christian Menn Christian Menn (March 3, 1927 – July 16, 2018) was a renowned Swiss civil engineer and bridge designer. He was involved in the construction of around 100 bridges worldwide, but the focus of his work was in eastern Switzerland, especially in can ...

in collaboration with bridge designer

Miguel Rosales Miguel Rosales (born 1961 in Guatemala) is president and principal designer of Rosales + Partners, an architecture firm based in Boston, Massachusetts. He specializes in bridge aesthetics and design. Some examples of these bridges include; Phy ...

and its design was engineered by American civil engineer Ruchu Hsu with Parsons Brinckerhoff (now

WSP USA WSP USA, formerly Parsons Brinckerhoff, is an American multinational engineering and design firm. The firm operates in the fields of strategic consulting, planning, engineering, construction management, energy, infrastructure and community plann ...

). Wallace Floyd Associates, sub-consultants to Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff, was the lead architect/urban designer and facilitated community participation during the design process. The bridge is a

in a harp configuration with cradles carrying each strand through their pylon. The main portion of the Zakim Bridge carries four lanes each way (northbound and southbound) of

Interstate 93 Interstate 93 (I-93) is an Interstate Highway in the New England states of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont in the United States. Spanning approximately along a north–south axis, it is one of three primary Interstate Highways ...

( concurrent with

U.S. Route 1 U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border, ...

) between the Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill Jr. Tunnel and the elevated highway to the north. Two additional lanes are

cantilevered A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is unsupported at one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cantilev ...

outside the cables, which carry northbound traffic from the

Sumner Tunnel The Sumner Tunnel is a road tunnel in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It carries traffic under Boston Harbor in one direction, from Logan International Airport and Route 1A in East Boston. The tunnel originally deposited traffic at the ...

and North End on-ramp. These lanes merge with the main highway north of the bridge. I-93 heads toward

New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

as the "Northern Expressway", and US 1 splits from the

Interstate The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, or the Eisenhower Interstate System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National H ...

and travels northeast toward Massachusetts' North Shore communities, crossing the

Mystic River The Mystic River is a riverU.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 in Massachusetts. In the Massachusett language, means "large estuary", alluding to the tidal ...

via the

Tobin Bridge The Maurice J. Tobin Memorial Bridge (formerly the Mystic River Bridge) is a cantilever bridge, cantilever truss bridge that spans more than from Charlestown, Boston, Boston to Chelsea, Massachusetts, Chelsea over the Mystic River in Massach ...

. The 1975-built MBTA Orange Line's Haymarket North Extension tunnel lies beneath the bridge.

Dedication

The bridge's full name commemorates Boston area leader and civil rights activist Leonard P. Zakim, who championed "building bridges between peoples", and the

Battle of Bunker Hill The Battle of Bunker Hill was fought on June 17, 1775, during the Siege of Boston in the first stage of the American Revolutionary War. The battle is named after Bunker Hill in Charlestown, Boston, Charlestown, Massachusetts, which was peri ...

. The bridge was dedicated on October 4, 2002, in a ceremony held on the new span. The dedication speakers included members of Zakim's family, government officials, and a performance of the song " Thunder Road" by

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American Rock music, rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Nicknamed "the Boss", Springsteen has released 21 studio albums spanning six decades; most of his albums feature th ...

. Introducing the song, Springsteen said about Zakim, "... I knew him a little bit during the last year of his life, he was one of those people whose, intensity, inner spirit you could feel even when he was very ill, ... we honor his memory obviously not with this beautiful bridge, very lovely, but by continuing on in his fight for social justice."

Landscape design and public art

Placement of footings for the Zakim Bridge required environmental permits to relocate areas of open water surface, changing the contour of the

shoreline. The process of landscape design and environmental mitigation under the bridge deck and around the bridge supports allowed for the creation of a new and accessible public landscape designed by Carol R. Johnson Associates. This under bridge landscape contains a series of perforated stainless steel lighting-based public artworks, entitled, ''Five Beacons for the Lost Half Mile.'' Pedestrians and cyclists are able to travel from Charlestown toward Cambridge over the adjacent North Bank Bridge to North Point Park. This bridge is a link in the

Charles River Bike Path The Charles River Bike Path is a mixed-use path in the Boston, Massachusetts area. A portion of the trail is named after the cardiologist Paul Dudley White, a prominent advocate of preventive medicine. His research led him to proclaim frequently ...

and a segment of the Mass Central Rail Trail and the

East Coast Greenway The East Coast Greenway is a pedestrian and bicycle route between Maine and Florida along the East Coast of the United States. The nonprofit East Coast Greenway Alliance was created in 1991 with the goal to use the entire route with off-road, s ...

Gallery

File:Zakim Dedication Plaque.jpg, Dedication plaque for the bridge File:Zakim Bridge from Museum of Science Roof - 2014-02-09.jpg, Nighttime view with the Lechmere Viaduct File:Zakim bridge6.jpg, Detail of the cabling and tower on the bridge File:26th floor view; Boston's North End.jpg, The bridge and the northern portion of the

Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway The Rose Kennedy Greenway is a linear park located in several Downtown Boston neighborhoods. It consists of landscaped gardens, promenades, plazas, fountains, art, and specialty lighting systems that stretch over one mile through Chinatown, the ...

File:Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge Southbound.JPG, View traveling south into Boston File:Zakimbridge.jpg, View from Paul Revere Park in Charlestown File:Zakim Bridge from Below, August 2024.jpg, View from below File:Zakim Bridge from below, Boston P1010874.jpg, View from a Charles River tour boat

References

External links

The Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge web site

Fact sheet on the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge
*
Description and history
on bostonroads.com
Zakim bridge as viewed from former location of Spaulding Rehab Hospital

Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge , foundations

New Lighting Revealed for Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge

The Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge – Philips Color Kinetics Case Study

Zakim Bridge Turns 15
{{Authority control Bridges completed in 2003 Bridges in Boston Transportation in Cambridge, Massachusetts Towers in Massachusetts Cable-stayed bridges in the United States Interstate 93 Landmarks in North End, Boston Landmarks in Boston U.S. Route 1 Buildings and structures in Cambridge, Massachusetts Bridges in Middlesex County, Massachusetts Road bridges in Massachusetts Bridges on the Interstate Highway System Bridges of the United States Numbered Highway System Bridges over the Charles River 2003 establishments in Massachusetts Concrete bridges in the United States Steel bridges in the United States