The newly dedicated Robert Busby Memorial Bridge in Lansing's Old Town won the national American Public Works Association Michigan Chapter Project of the Year award for Historical Restoration and Preservation.
The 1930 bridge crosses the Grand River in Old Town and adjoins historic buildings on each side. The team at Fishbeck, Thompson, Carr & Huber, Inc. had to figure out how to expand the bridge without compromising the integrity of these buildings.
Jamie Schriner-Hooper, with the Old Town Commercial Association, says the City of Lansing and the designers were very responsive to the neighborhood’s requests.
“We gave the city a list,” she says. “We wanted wrought iron railings, seating areas, historic lighting and spiral staircases. We gave them the list, and for everything they literally said, ‘OK.’”
The rededication of the Robert Busby Memorial Bridge has extra special meaning to the Old Town community because it was named after an influential Old Town artist and neighborhood hero, Robert Busby.
The bridge opened in September 2006 and was rededicated in the spring of 2008.
Source: Jamie Schriner-Hooper, Old Town Commercial Association
Ivy Hughes, development news editor, can be reached here.
Photographs © Dave Trumpie
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