photo sharing and upload picture albums photo forums search pictures popular photos photography help login
Cedric Sims | profile | all galleries >> NightShots >> Sundial Bridge Night tree view | thumbnails | slideshow

Sundial Bridge Night

The Sundial Bridge is a cantilever spar cable-stayed bridge that spans the Sacramento River in Redding, California. It was designed by Santiago Calatrava and completed in 2004 at a cost of US$23,000,000. Similar to his earlier (1992) design (the Puente del Alamillo in Seville, Spain), this subtype uniquely does not balance the forces by using a symmetrical arrangement of cable forces on each side of the tower; instead it uses an angled cantilever tower loaded by cable stays on only one side. This 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. This greenbridge features a single 217 foot (66 metre) mast that serves as the gnomon of the world's largest sundial. Sundial Bridge's shadow is cast upon a large dial to the north of the bridge, though the shadow cast by the bridge is exactly accurate on only one day in a year - the summer solstice, June 21. 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.[1] 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, and to the Sacramento River Trail.






To view larger size click on thumbnails.
Sundial Bridge
Sundial Bridge
Sundial Bridge
Sundial Bridge
Sundial Bridge
Sundial Bridge
Sundial Bridge
Sundial Bridge
Sundial Bridge
Sundial Bridge
Sundial Bridge
Sundial Bridge
Sundial Bridge
Sundial Bridge
Sundial Bridge
Sundial Bridge