Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge

The bridge concept was designed by Swiss civil engineer Christian Menn in collaboration with bridge designer Miguel Rosales and its design was engineered by American civil engineer Ruchu Hsu with Parsons Brinckerhoff (now WSP USA). 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 cable-stayed bridge 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 (concurrent with U.S. Route 1) between the Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill Jr. Tunnel and the elevated highway to the north. Two additional lanes are cantilevered outside the cables, which carry northbound traffic from the Sumner Tunnel and North End on-ramp. These lanes merge with the main highway north of the bridge. I-93 heads toward New Hampshire as the "Northern Expressway", and US 1 splits from the Interstate and travels northeast toward Massachusetts' North Shore communities, crossing the Mystic River via the Tobin Bridge. 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 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. 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 Charles River 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 and a segment of the Mass Central Rail Trail and the East Coast Greenway. == Gallery ==

File:Zakim Dedication Plaque.jpg|Dedication plaque for the bridge File:Zakim Bridge under construction.jpg|Zakim Bridge under construction behind the Charlestown High Bridge in 2000 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 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 == See also ==