Richmond’s Potterfield Memorial Bridge wins a best project award

Published November 9, 2017 by Paula C. Squires

The first dedicated pedestrian and cycling bridge to cross Richmond’s James River, the T. Tyler Potterfield Memorial Bridge, has won a best project award in the mid-Atlantic region for landscape/urban development.  

                                        
Howard Shockey & Sons, the general contractor for the project, announced the award from ENR MidAtlantic magazine, one of several honors the $11.3 million project has earned since it opened in 2016.

ENR judges weighed the project teams’ ability to overcome challenges, the project’s contribution to the industry and community, its safety and construction and design quality.

Besides Winchester-based Shockey, the project team included the city of Richmond, owner; Hargreaves Associates, lead design firm; VHB, civil engineer; Moffatt & Nichol, structural engineer; and AECOM, construction manager/owner’s representative. The firms, all with offices in Richmond, completed the 17-month project on time.

The bridge was named after T. Tyler Potterfield, a late senior planner for the Richmond Department of Planning and Development Review.
After opening last winter, the 1,700-foot-long, 10-foot wide bridge drew 35,000 people in its first month.  It offers views of the Richmond skyline as people walk or ride across a span 20 feet above the river’s falls.

Design and construction of the bridge, which links the city’s downtown to the Manchester neighborhood, was complicated by its location within the river’s floodplain. Another challenge was a nearly four-month moratorium on work in the James River to protect local fish migration.

Built on a decommissioned hydro power dam constructed around 1900, the bridge reused some existing piers that had been damaged but were able to be repaired and recycled.

The bridge has picked up several other awards including:
Project of the year — Transportation | American Public Works Association, Mid-Atlantic Chapter
Public Works Project of the Year | American Public Works Association
Engineering Excellence Merit Award — Special Projects   American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC ) of Virginia