Footbridge

A footbridge (also a pedestrian bridge) is a bridge designed solely for pedestrians. While the primary meaning for a bridge is a structure which links "two points at a height above the ground", a footbridge can also be a lower structure, such as a boardwalk, that enables pedestrians to cross wet, fragile, or marshy land. Bridges range from stepping stones–possibly the earliest man-made structure to "bridge" water–to elaborate steel structures. Another early bridge would have been simply a fallen tree. In some cases a footbridge can be both functional and artistic.

For rural communities in the developing world, a footbridge may be a community's only access to medical clinics, schools, businesses and markets. Simple suspension bridge designs have been developed to be sustainable and easily constructed in such areas using only local materials and labor.

An enclosed footbridge between two buildings is sometimes known as a skyway. Bridges providing for both pedestrians and cyclists are often referred to as greenbridges and form an important part of a sustainable transport system. A pedestrian bridge is a structure that allows pedestrians to cross bodies of water, traffic lanes, or mountainsvalleys. They can be constructed from different types of materials. They are available in static and mobile versions (whichfold,rotate,orelevate). They range in size from a few meters to hundreds of meters. Due to the low load they are designed to carry and the limited length they must span, their designs can be highly diverse.

Footbridges are often situated to allow pedestrians to cross water or railways in areas where there are no nearby roads. They are also located across roads to let pedestrians cross safely without slowing traffic. The latter is a type of pedestrian separation structure, examples of which are particularly found near schools. From a transportation planningperspective, the great advantage of this structure is that it doesn't hinder traffic. From a pedestrian perspective, this type of structure lengthens the path compared to azebra crossingortraffic light.

Some notable architectural examples of this type of bridge include theMillennium BridgeinLondon, theSant'Angelo BridgeinRome, thePont des ArtsinParis, and the all-glass walkway at Munich 'sFranz Josef Strauss Airport. TheTri-Country Bridge, an arch bridge between theGermancity ofWeil am Rheinand theFrench city of Huningue, is the longest pedestrian and bicycle bridge in the world.

Early history

The simplest type of bridge is stepping stones, so this may have been one of the earliest types of footbridge. Neolithic people also built a form of a boardwalk across marshes, of which the Sweet Track, and the Post Track are examples from England, that are around 6000 years old. Undoubtedly ancient peoples would also have used log bridges; that is a timber bridge that fall naturally or are intentionally felled or placed across streams. Some of the first man-made bridges with significant span were probably intentionally felled trees.

Among the oldest timber bridges is the Holzbrücke Rapperswil-Hurden crossing upper Lake Zürich in Switzerland; the prehistoric timber piles discovered to the west of the Seedamm date back to 1523 B.C. The first wooden footbridge led across Lake Zürich, followed by several reconstructions at least until the late 2nd century AD, when the Roman Empire built a 6-metre-wide (20 ft) wooden bridge. Between 1358 and 1360, Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, built a 'new' wooden bridge across the lake that has been used to 1878 – measuring approximately 1,450 metres (4,760 ft) in length and 4 metres (13 ft) wide. On April 6, 2001, the reconstructed wooden footbridge was opened, being the longest wooden bridge in Switzerland.

A clapper bridge is an ancient form of bridge found on the moors of Devon (Dartmoor and Exmoor) and in other upland areas of the United Kingdom including Snowdonia and Anglesey, Cumbria, Yorkshire and Lancashire. It is formed by large flat slabs of stone, often granite or schist, supported on stone piers (across rivers), or resting on the banks of streams. Although often credited with prehistoric origin, most were erected in medieval times, and some in later centuries. A famous example is found in the village of Postbridge. First recorded in the 14th century, the bridge is believed to have been originally built in the 13th century to enable pack horses to cross the river. Nowadays clapper bridges are only used as footbridges.

The Kapellbrücke is a 204-metre-long (669 ft) footbridge crossing the River Reuss in the city of Lucerne in Switzerland. It is the oldest wooden covered bridge in Europe, and one of Switzerland's main tourist attractions. The bridge was originally built c. 1365 as part of Lucerne's fortifications.

An early example of a skyway is the Vasari Corridor, an elevated, enclosed passageway in Florence, Italy, which connects the Palazzo Vecchio with the Palazzo Pitti. Beginning on the south side of the Palazzo Vecchio, it then joins the Uffizi Gallery and leaves on its south side, crossing the Lungarno dei Archibusieri and then following the north bank of the River Arno until it crosses the river at Ponte Vecchio. It was built in five months by order of Duke Cosimo I de' Medici in 1565, to the design of Giorgio Vasari.

Bank Bridge is a famous 25 metre long pedestrian bridge crossing the Griboedov Canal in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Like other bridges across the canal, the existing structure dates from 1826. The special popularity of the bridge was gained through angular sculptures of four winged lions crowning the abutments. They were designed by sculptor Pavel Sokolov (1764-1835), who also contributed lions for Bridge of Lions.

Types

Types of footbridges include:

Beam Bridge

Boardwalk

Clapper bridge

Duckboards, Timber trackway, Plank road, and Corduroy road

Moon bridge

Simple suspension bridge

Simple truss

Stepping stones

Zig-zag bridge

The residential-scale footbridges all span a short distance and can be used for a broad range of applications. Complicated engineering is not needed and the footbridges are built with readily available materials and basic tools.

Different types of design footbridges include:

Timber footbridges

Steel footbridges

Concrete footbridge

Footbridges can also be built in the same ways as road or rail bridges; particularly suspension bridges and beam bridges. Some former road bridges have had their traffic diverted to alternative crossings and have become pedestrian bridges; examples in the UK include The Iron Bridge at Ironbridge, Shropshire, the Old Bridge at Pontypridd and Windsor Bridge at Windsor, Berkshire.

Most footbridges are equipped with guard rails to reduce the risk of pedestrians falling. Where they pass over busy roads or railways, they may also include a fence or other such barrier to prevent pedestrians from jumping, or throwing projectiles onto the traffic below.

Railways

It was originally usual for passengers to cross from one railway platform to another by stepping over the tracks, but from the mid-19th century onwards safety demanded the provision of a footbridge (or underpass) at busier places. However, in some quieter areas, crossing the line by walking over the tracks is possible.

Catwalk

Narrow footbridges or walkways to allow workers access to parts of a structure otherwise difficult to reach are referred as catwalks or cat walks. Such catwalks are located above a stage (theater catwalk) in a theater, between parts of a building, along the side of a bridge, on the inside of a tunnel, on the outside of any large storage tank in a refinery or elsewhere, etc. The walkway on the outside (top) of a railroad cars such as boxcars, before air brakes came into use, or on top of some covered hopper cars is also called a catwalk. With the exception of those on top of railroad cars, catwalks are equipped with railings or handrails.

Design

Design of footbridges normally follows the same principles as for other bridges. However, because they are normally significantly lighter than vehicular bridges, they are more vulnerable to vibration and therefore dynamics effects are often given more attention in design. International attention has been drawn to this issue in recent years by problems on the Pont de Solférino in Paris and the Millennium Bridge in London.

To ensure footbridges are accessible to disabled and other mobility-impaired people, careful consideration is nowadays also given to provision of access lifts or ramps, as required by relevant legislation (e.g. Disability Discrimination Act 1995 in the UK). Some old bridges in Venice are now equipped with a stairlift so that residents with a disability can cross them.

Advantages

Much rural travel takes place on local footpaths, tracks and village roads. These provide essential access to water, firewood, farm plots and the classified road network. Communities and/or local government are generally responsible for this infrastructure.

Disadvantages

Pedestrian overpasses over highways or railroads are expensive, especially when elevators or long ramps for wheelchair users are required. Without elevators or ramps, people with mobility handicaps will not be able to use the structure. People may prefer to walk across a busy road rather than climb a bridge. It is recommended that overpasses should only be used where the number of users justify the costs.

Narrow, enclosed structures can result in perceptions of low personal security among users. Wider structures and good lighting can help reduce this.

In recent years, urban areas have given priority to the movement of motor vehicles, fragmenting public space through expressways, ring roads, bridges and overpasses. All these works do not consider the right to mobility and the city of the inhabitants,  since pedestrians must deviate their desire lines to where the bridges are, which implies more time and effort, they have an unfriendly design for vulnerable users such as children, the elderly or people with disabilities.  In addition, they do not meet their objective of saving lives, since a study carried out in 2008 by the Institute of Geography of theNational Autonomous University of Mexico(UNAM), revealed that 26.68% of accidents in Mexico City occur less than 300 meters from 66.45% of pedestrian bridges,  Therefore, the construction of "anti-pedestrian" bridges has an urban engineering logic that favors the movement of motor vehicles and not injury prevention. 

In 2014, the Pedestrian League (Mexico) presented theMexican Charter of Pedestrian Rightsand in April 2016, Congressman Víctor Hugo Romo presented the Mexican Charter of Pedestrian Rights bill to the Legislative Assembly of the Federal District, based on the document of the Pedestrian League, but adding references to "anti-pedestrian bridges" in some articles, such as article 19, which prohibits the installation of such bridges on signalized roads. 

The location and segregation characteristics reinforce the anti-pedestrian nature of these bridges, the first, because they are located near schools and hospitals, where: 

The maximum speed that people can travel in their cars is between 20 and 30 km/h, for example, inMexico City,6 out of 10 bridges are located in these areas, as stated in an interview withEl Paísby a leader of the Pedestrians First platform.

They are used by people leaving the hospital, such as pregnant women.

Segregation (anddiscrimination) is due to the number of these in areas with a poor population, since Mexico City had 752 in 2024, of which 105 were located in theIztapalapa Mayor's Office, and the further away from the city center these barriers increase, the Pedestrians First activist adds: 

There is a class issue, where some can have this city at street level and others will have to quintuple their travel distance to get from point A to point B .

Long footbridges

The record for the longest footbridge in the world was claimed by then New York State Governor David Paterson in a 2009 article about the walkway across the Hudson River at Poughkeepsie, New York. On July 22, 2017, the Champlain Bridge Ice Structure (French: l'Estacade Champlain), a bridge built for bicycles and foot traffic only to parallel the Champlain Bridge from Brossard, Quebec west to Nun's Island (L'ile Des Soeurs) & the Island of Montreal, was measured by a calibrated device as being 7,512 feet or 2,290 meters or 1.4227 miles or 2.290 kilometers long starting and ending where the treadway rises above the ground and a pedestrian could access the bridge as close as possible to the St Lawrence River.

Bridge of National Unity, in Hungary, is the longest pedestrian suspension bridge, as of 2024, and before Sky Bridge 721 was the longest which spans in the Králický Sněžník mountain in the Czech Republic, opened in May 2022. The 721 metres (2,365 ft) bridge hangs 95 metres (312 ft) above ground.

The United Wholesale Mortgage Pedestrian Bridge in Pontiac, Michigan is the longest enclosed pedestrian bridge, completed on October 1, 2021. The 305 metre bridge was part of a $250 million project to UWM's offices, which converted a former warehouse and utilized shipping containers for offices, corridors, and other spaces.

The Walkway Over The Hudson footbridge was originally built for trains, it was recently restored as a pedestrian walkway. The footbridge has a total length of 2,063 metres (6,768 ft). Before it was demolished in 2011, the Hornibrook Bridge which crossed Bramble Bay in Queensland, Australia was longer than the Poughkeepsie Bridge at 2.684 km (1.668 mi).

In developing countries

Since the early 1980s, several charities have developed standardized footbridge designs that are sustainable for use in developing countries. The first charity to develop such designs was Helvetas, located in Zurich, Switzerland. Designs that can be sustainably and efficiently used in developing countries are typically made available to the public gratis.

Notable footbridges

Atal Pedestrian Bridge in Ahmedabad, India

Bank Bridge and the Bridge of Four Lions in Saint Petersburg

Big Dam Bridge between Little Rock and North Little Rock, Arkansas

Big Four Bridge between Louisville, Kentucky and Jeffersonville, Indiana

Capilano Suspension Bridge in British Columbia

Central Elevated Walkway, an extensive network of footbridges in Central, Victoria City, Hong Kong

Chain of Rocks Bridge near St. Louis, Missouri

Corktown Footbridge in Ottawa

Davenport Skybridge in Davenport, Iowa

Dunlop Bridge at the Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans, Sarthe, France

Esplanade Riel in Winnipeg, Manitoba

Footbridge Network in Tsuen Wan, Tsuen Wan, Hong Kong

Gateshead Millennium Bridge, London, England

Goodwill Bridge at Brisbane, Australia

Gorkha Bridge in the Gorkha District, Nepal

Ha'penny Bridge in Dublin, Ireland

Hungerford Bridge and Golden Jubilee Bridges, London, England

Jade Belt Bridge in the Summer Palace in Beijing

Kaldnes Bridge in Tønsberg, Norway

Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge, Omaha, Nebraska

Kingsgate Bridge in Durham, England

Liberty Bridge at Falls Park on the Reedy in Greenville, South Carolina

Millennium Bridge and the high-level walkways in Tower Bridge in London

Matagarup Bridge in Perth, Western Australia

Mishima Skywalk in Mishima, Shizuoka, Japan

Newport Southbank Bridge between Newport, Kentucky and Cincinnati

Pont des Arts in Paris

Ponte Milvio in Rome

Ponte Sant'Angelo in Rome

Pushkinsky and Bogdan Khmelnitsky Pedestrian bridges in Moscow

Rolling Bridge at Paddington Basin, London

St Elmo Bridge in Valletta, Malta

Southbank footbridge in Southbank, Victoria

Shelby Street Bridge in Nashville, Tennessee

Tournament Bridge* The Waco Suspension Bridge in Waco, Texas

Pedestrian walkway over the Tropicana – Las Vegas Boulevard intersection in Paradise, Nevada

Walnut Street Bridges in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and Chattanooga, Tennessee

Webb bridge in the Melbourne Docklands

Willimantic Footbridge in Willimantic, Connecticut

Saphan Han in Bangkok, Thailand

Saphan Hok in Bangkok, Thailand

Pi Kun Bridge in Bangkok, Thailand

Uttamanusorn Bridge in Kanchanaburi, Thailand

Hussaini Bridge in Gilgit-Baltistan region, Pakistan

Sourced from Wikipedia