Hawkins Partners, Inc. worked with Smith Gee Studio to develop the concept design of the connector bridge to be more than a

practical connector – to become a “place” in its own right. The 700-ft. curving structure floats above the railroad gulch and is anchored with grand flights of stairs on either end, providing a needed link from the burgeoning mixed-use Gulch district to the

rapidly transforming area in and around Nashville’s new convention center.

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The surface area of the bridge provides a raised linear park, extending the city’s urban greenway and providing nodes along

the way to take in dramatic views of the downtown skyline to the northeast and to the rolling hills to the southwest. A series of gathering areas with stepped seating provide nooks for impromptu musicians, for conversation, for sunning, or for reading and quiet while allowing for an adjacent linear path to accommodate strolling or cycling through the urban landscape. The thirty-foot width of the bridge supports the park setting with native meadow grasses in planting pockets along the promenade and with trellis structures providing for overhead shade.