I-74 bridge designer pleased with his 3-year-old identical twins

In his first return trip to the Quad Cities in years the designer of the award-winning Interstate 74 Bridge is pleased to see the way the community continues to celebrate what very quickly became an iconic symbol of the region. Miguel Rosales has made a career out of designing bridges, which he calls “structural art,” […]

In his first return trip to the Quad Cities in years the designer of the award-winning Interstate 74 Bridge is pleased to see the way the community continues to celebrate what very quickly became an iconic symbol of the region.

Miguel Rosales has made a career out of designing bridges, which he calls “structural art,” the Quad Cities crossing among them. The reason for his visit was a Thursday, June 27, Author’s Talk about his book “Bridges as Structural Art,” hosted by the Figge Art Museum in Davenport. The trip also included a planned walk with his husband John David Corey on the I-74 pedestrian and bike path that Mr. Rosales designed, he told the QCBJ in an interview at the Figge. The Quad Cities bridge is one of 25 standouts that were designed by his firm Rosales + Partners and featured in the colorful large-format, 268-page book published by ORO Edition.  It features striking images of the ground-breaking unique bridges and designs including the one linking Moline to Bettendorf. “Some designers and some people don’t see bridges as art,” Mr. Rosales told the QCBJ. “They see it more as a functional structure that has to cross from A to B.” As a result, he said, “They don’t see it as something that would create this uniqueness and become an icon – something that would make people excited about crossing the bridge, not only getting from one side to the other, but also the whole experience of crossing a force of a structure like this one.”

All things bridges

From the start, Mr. Rosales’ career has been focused on bridges, though he didn’t initially plan it that way. He was born in Guatemala and attended Universidad Francisco Marroquin in Guatemala City to study urban and environmental design. After earning his degree, he came to the United States in 1985 to join a Fellowship Program at Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he focused on large-scale projects.

Early key and celebrated bridge project successes helped lead him to making those structures his life’s work. They included serving as lead architect and urban designer of Boston’s Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge over the historic Charles River. The crossing was part of the once-controversial Central Artery Tunnel Project, known by Bostonians as the Big Dig.  By 1997 he had launched Rosales + Partners based in that city. It features a talented team of award-winning architects, engineers and landscape architects who approach bridge-building in a comprehensive way. The firm really gained traction after the opening of two more “very important projects” in Washington, D.C., and Greensville, South Carolina. Then Mr. Rosales won a competition to redesign Washington D.C.’s Woodrow Wilson Bridge. It opened in 2008 to rave reviews. “So I think because of those three bridges I became very well known nationally and I started to get commissions all over the United States and abroad,” he said. Mr. Rosales’ book, which he wrote at the urging of Mr. Corey, began during COVID-19 and took years to complete. Mr. Rosales said he is proud of all of the featured bridges, including the Quad Cities project.  “These double-handled basket bridges are very unique,” he told the QCBJ. “There is nothing else like (the I-74 Bridge) in the U.S.”

I-74 design is ‘true art’

Mr. Rosales first learned about this community’s project in its early stages when he connected with a Chicago company that was doing preliminary environmental studies for the Iowa and Illinois Departments of Transportation (DOT) on the I-74 bridge project. Now more than three and a half years after that structure’s official Dec. 1, 2021, grand opening, he said “I am happily surprised that the original concept was not changed in any major way.” That final design was one of three options he initially presented to the DOTs. Two had arches and one was a cable-style bridge. “I always thought this was the best one,” Mr. Rosales said. He calls it “true art because it goes all the way to the water and the foundations are in the water and that’s supporting all of the loads and all of the structure,” which also offers clear views of the river from both the bridge itself and the ground below. In addition, the I-74 bridge design is “more original than all the other arches because of its shape,” he added. Most tie-arch bridges that had become popular in recent years, for example, are generally connected by a series of piers that block views and disrupt lines.  While such bridges are cheaper to build, “the Iowa DOT was very responsive to the community. They didn't want controversy and they followed through and insisted that the one that was chosen is the one that would be built.” That doesn’t often happen, he said.  While Mr. Rosales has designed other basket-handle arches, the I-74 Bridge is unique because those other bridges nearly always have only one span.

Identical twins

Two spans were required here because the new bridge is much wider than the original bridge’s twin spans due to the addition of a safety shoulder which keeps traffic moving, cutting down on traffic logjams.  Plans called for “a very wide structure and so for efficiency you didn't want to make it too wide so it was decided to make two of them,” he said of the spans. It also was “a natural progression from the twin suspension bridges that existed to this new system of twin bridges.” But unlike the old green spans, which were built at different times, today's aches are “identical basically because I really wanted to have the walkway cantilevering from the arches out.”  He also was pleased the Iowa DOT agreed to that walkway which very few bridges had then and it integral to his identical twin-span design. “It was very important to do that and the state also agreed to do that because the walkway, which is about 14 feet wide, would have been inside the arches, then the arches would have been one wide and one less wide,” he said. “I always wanted to have twins, but I always wanted them to be identical,” he said. Besides a cleaner look, the symmetrical side-by-side spans also provide clear views to the river below the bridge. “It’s a very nice space to see through,” he added. Mr. Rosales said he’s happy with the bridge and especially pleased the community and businesses have embraced it. He’s been contacted by businesses and organizations who have incorporated the bridge into their logos, ads, signs and other materials. It’s also featured on U.S. stamps. “That means to me that people are proud and they are happy with the results and that’s very important because it’s going to be here for at least 75 years,” Mr. Rosales said.

More unique design

The spans also are arresting because they reach 60 feet higher than the old suspension bridge thus creating more visibility from long distances, Mr. Rosales said. “I knew that the scale was going to be quite impressive but it’s more impressive than I thought." He added “When it was finished you could really see it from a long distance, which on a river of this scale and this importance I think is appropriate because the Mississippi is the most important river in the U.S. in general for many different reasons and something of that scale I think is appropriate." The biggest challenge was convincing the DOTs to spend a little more to do the more unique designs. In the end, he said, “they agreed with me and they agreed with the community and I was lucky that the concept that I wanted was the one that people like.” Mr. Rosales added “I think here they saw the idea, they endorsed it and they adopted it and they went through for it, which is quite exceptional in the U.S. to do that. It doesn’t happen all the time.” With the publication of this book, Mr. Rosales is not ready to rest on his laurels. He is working on 10 different projects right now, but still finding time to visit the cities featured in his book for talks and signings. (His next stop after the QC was Fort Worth, Texas.) "I'm very excited to be back in the area,” Mr. Rosales said. “I haven't been back for a few years. I feel like it’s always good to come back where I did a project and see how it is working and how the people are embracing it and I hope that the community is happy with the results.”