William Felton “Bill” Russell Bridge

The William Felton “Bill” Russell Bridge, formerly known as the North Washington Street Bridge, is a signature structure in Boston, Massachusetts that serves as a vital connection between Downtown Boston and Charlestown, carrying vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians over the Boston Inner Harbor and supporting the historic Freedom Trail.

Serving as the lead designer, Benesch worked collaboratively the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, the City of Boston Public Works Department and architecture firm Rosales + Partners to create a modern, accessible, and aesthetically significant gateway between two of Boston’s most important neighborhoods.

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A Complete Streets Approach

Taking a “Complete Streets” approach, the team prioritized safety, accessibility and community connectivity when designing the structure. A designated Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) lane, two separated dedicated bicycle lanes and pedestrian sidewalk facilities improve mobility while two lanes of traffic in each direction serve the 66,000 vehicles that rely on the bridge daily. Care was also taken to achieve full ADA compliance, ensuring barrier-free access for people of all abilities.

Nighttime view of bridge with purple lighting

Preserving History While Improving Function

Curved architectural trellises, decorative lighting, ample seating and landscaping further enhance the experience along the bridge, at once accomplishing the structure’s multimodal objective while honoring the area’s history and creating a contemporary sense of place in Boston’s Inner Harbor.

Engineering a Unique Substructure

With the Zakim Bridge’s iconic 330-ft tall, inverted Y-pylons located just to the west, care was taken to avoid creating a competing structure. Therefore, the uniqueness of the Bill Russell Bridge had to be achieved below the roadway. By incorporating V-shaped concrete piers as the main substructure elements, the Bill Russell Bridge reflects the iconic pylons of the Zakim Bridge while maintaining its own unique identity.

Each pier consists of four individual V-pier columns, arms and tie-beams. The arms extend 25 feet from the columns and rise 20 to 30 feet above the water, tied together with post-tensioned concrete tie-beams. The vertical portions of the V-piers are exposed at low tide and hidden at high tide, providing an open concept for increased visibility and reflective light.

This design also allowed the bridge to be constructed half at a time in order to maintain vehicular and pedestrian traffic and support for the utilities during construction.