The Chords Bridge (Hebrew: גשר המיתרים) is a cantilever spar cable-stayed bridge in Jerusalem, that will connect the Jerusalem Light Rail lines running east-west on Jaffa Road to the north-south Herzl Boulevard. The bridge serves to bypass a usually congested intersection at the city's entrance, allowing freer traffic-flow in all directions.
Designed by Santiago Calatrava, its construction began in 2007 at a cost of 220 million NIS to the Jerusalem municipality and Israeli government. The bridge is set to be inaugurated on May 26, 2008.[1]
Similar to Calatrava's earlier (1992) design, the Puente del Alamillo in Seville, Spain, this subtype does not balance forces by using a symmetrical arrangement of cable forces on each side of the tower, but rather makes use of an angled cantilever tower loaded by cable stays on one side only, and consists of a single pylon counterbalancing the 360 metre span with lengths of cables. While this leads to a less structurally efficient structure, it makes a dramatic architectural statement.
A striking feature of the bridge is a single 118-metre high mast that will constitute the tallest structure in Jerusalem.[2] The bridge is expected to become a tourist attraction and another symbol of Jerusalem.
Calatrava designed a similar bridge, but of smaller dimensions, in Petah Tikva, Israel.
Topic: The Chords Bridge (Read 2231 times)