New Bridge Will Span Soldiers Field Highway

A footbridge over Soldiers Field Road, directly across from the Weeks Memorial Bridge, is almost certain to be built next year. It will probably be completed by the end of 1956, but may be in use during football season.

The bridge, to be erected at the expense of the Metropolitan District Commission, is now being designed by the Brask Engineering Company of Boston. McKim, Meade and White, a New York firm, is serving as architectural consultant on the project.

Present plans call for the bridge to be approximately 180 feet long, with the walking ramp ten feet wide. It will be constructed of steel, concrete, and red brick.

On the river side, there will be one entrance to the bridge, while there will be two on the business School side, according to Henry Brask, president of the Brask company.

The University asked the MDC to build the bridge more than a year ago, "because with the widening and improving of Soldiers Field Road and the resulting increased speeds of automobiles there, the danger of pedestrian accidents was becoming greater," Clifford A. Foster, Assistant Dean of the Business School, said. "Although there have been no accidents yet, the MDC saw the danger, and decided to build the bridge," he added.

The Brask Company will submit their plan to the MDC "early next year," Brask said yesterday." The five MDC commissioners will then vote to accept or reject the plan, almost always just a formality. Bids will then be accepted for the project for approximately three weeks.