Bridge Watch

Now we will tell you about the next man-made miracle, you guessed it, it will be on the bridge. Interestingly, when the bridge was built, it immediately became a symbol of the California city of Redding, in fact, hence its name - "reddingskie Solar Watch».

You may ask: "Why, in fact, the sundial?" The answer lies on the surface, the thing is that this bridge is a gigantic sundial.
Typically, the inclined support of bridges playing the role of a purely aesthetic decoration (of course, besides the fact that they support the bridges). But in this case, in addition to the support that holds the bridge itself, it still plays the role of a giant 66-meter gnomonoma. With regard to the definition of the "gnomon", then - a pointer to the sundial.

It is noteworthy that the sundial bridge designed just for cycling and walking in the direction of Turtle Cove, which will please their visitors park complex with beautiful gardens, Arboretum, as well as museums.

You'll be surprised, but the construction of this unique bridge was spent more than 23.5 million dollars!

With regard to the construction of the bridge Sundial, it is organized in the same way as other known projects, such as the Spanish Seville Alamillo Bridge, or Puente de la Mujer. And do it in such a way that the only support that is mounted under 42-degree slope by ropes strung securely holds the entire structure.

Almost all the components of this beautiful bridge brought from somewhere, such as a cable made in England; white tile that adorns the magnificent support, delivered from Spain. As for the floor of the bridge, which is represented by a transparent glass, it also brought back, particularly from Quebec. At night, the floor lights up and becomes no longer transparent, but rather aquamarine. All structural elements are also imported - from Vancouver.

When the sun is hidden in clouds bridge, of course, is not the function of hours, but his support because of their color sometimes merges with the sky that looks pretty amazing!

In the town of Redding about creating beautiful footbridge said back in 1990, during this period for this purpose planned to allocate no more than 3 000 000 dollars. But when, in 1996, architect Santiago Calatrava presented a draft of this bridge, which is already estimated at $ 23 million, began protracted debate about why. As a result, it was decided that the bridge reddingsky worth the cost, because a non-standard implementation of the project will certainly be the dominant structural sharp stimulus to attract a large number of tourists. And you will not believe, but in the year 2004 in this lovely town began to appear the first tourists who drew the bridge, which is the largest sundial in the world. By the way, only one year after a bright opening of the bridge, the number of visitors to Turtle Cove jumped by 42%!