JERUSALEM.- The city of Jerusalem marked 40 years of reunification with a spectacular celebration and public inauguration of the bridge designed by Santiago Calatrava. The Prime Minister of Israel and Mayor of Jerusalem presided over the event, and Santiago Calatrava was in attendance. The evening opened in darkness with the only spotlight on the Symphonic Orchestra, who played a series of songs for Jerusalem punctuated by synchronized fireworks.

The stage was surrounded by screens that projected images of the construction process of the bridge and a promotional video of Jerusalem. The audience was invited to join in a countdown to the official inauguration of the bridge while the prime minister and the mayor lit a special firework show, which drew the ceremony to a spectacular close.

In 1999,the Municipality of Jerusalem and the Israel Ministries of Transportation and Finance began plans to construct a light rail mass transit system for Jerusalem, consisting of eight lines. The first line to be constructed will run 15 kilometers (9.3 miles)from Pisgat Zeev to Yad Vashem and include the new Central Bus Station and Eastern Gate entrance to Jerusalem. At the request of the City of Jerusalem, Santiago Calatrava has designed a new bridge in a key area near the Central Bus Station which will serve as the “Modern Entrance”to the city.

To accommodate this difficult site,Calatrava suggested a cable-stayed bridge with a single inclined pylon rising above the urban surroundings,creating a landmark for the city.The bridge deck itself spans over the busy traffic intersection of Shazar Street, curving in an elegant s-shape from Jaffa Road to Herzl Boulevard. This free spanning structure clears the way for a public plaza below and allows an easy pedestrian crossing of the main traffic junction.

The slender and streamlined triangular-shaped steel box of the pylon is inclined backwards to show visible tension as well as create a clear visual direction towards the city.The cables are arranged in a parabolic shape which
develops three-dimensionally in space thus amplifying the impressive visual impact of this unique bridge.

Overall the cables and form of this structure suggest a giant harp –the harp of King David as a symbol of the holy city.

The overall length of the bridge is 360m,160m of which is free spanning. Attached to the massive box girder which contains the two light rail train tracks is the rib structure of the pedestrian walkway with semi-transparent glass pavement illuminated at night.The s-shaped steel deck is suspended 6.45m above Shazar Street by 66 cables attached to a single 118m high pylon. On either side the bridge rests on concrete embankments covered with the traditional local lime stone.

This new bridge will not only smooth the flow of traffic;it will also frame a public plaza on the site below and will serve as a new gateway to the City of Jerusalem.

Architect's Statement

The Jerusalem light rail train bridge project started with the idea that we have to do a very light and very transparent bridge,which should span a major new plaza at the entry to Jerusalem.These were the elements I received from the client,Ehud Olmert,then the Mayor of Jerusalem, who challenged me in this way. He said that Jerusalem is one of the oldest cities in the world, so I had to make one of the most beautiful bridges.

Uri Shetrit,the city engineer,who is also an architect,was preoccupied with how to make this area more urban and how to make it more pleasant for pedestrians,since the traffic there is enormous. The bus station is not far away,and many of the cars arriving in Jerusalem have to pass through this intersection.We wanted to unify the area and give it character.So the bridge is a link for the tramway and for pedestrians,but it is also the excuse to create a major plaza,to give character and unity to this delicate place which is the entrance to Jerusalem.

My first drawings for the bridge were very abstract,and focused on reconciling the curved plan of the bridge with the elevation,and its articulation with the surroundings.This was of great importance to me. Also,because I wanted to make the bridge so transparent,and the mast so thin,the major impression of the bridge comes from the cables. In the end,the form of the bridge came to resemble a musical instrument,with the cables as the strings.The idea of the bridge as a harp struck me as beautiful in this case. I thought the city of David deserves a bridge that evoked a harp, which was the instrument he played.

The S-shape of the bridge is a result of the technical requirements of the light rail system. Its geometry is precisely defined by the need of the tramway to go from Yaffo Street through the plaza and into Theodore Herzl Avenue. The curve and then the countercurve were dictated not only by the course of the tramway but also by the speed of the trains and the degree of curve they can
pass through.

In a bridge,the formal composition and the structural solution come together.Most bridges today are very minimalist,because we have taken away the decorative elements that were used in bridges since ancient times. You have very few elements with which to work. The most defining element—the one that belongs most to the physical nature of a bridge—is the statical system, how the bridge behaves. Also I think the reference to the site is very
important;the way the bridge touches the ground is fundamental. Finally, there is the way people move around and use the bridge to traverse the city.

These are the basic issues I always look at. For this bridge in Jerusalem,the quality of life and the quality of the city—to be responsive to the place—is the most important thing.

Bridges are instruments of peace.They join places that were separated. They permit people to meet.They even are meeting points.They are done for the sake of progress and for the average citizen.They even have a religious
dimension. The word religious comes from Latin, meaning “creating a link.”

This particular understanding has a very deep meaning,especially in Jerusalem,which contains in its name the words shalom,salaam,peace.A
bridge makes a lot of sense in a city like Jerusalem.