John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge

Details

National Register of Historic Places

The John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge, formerly the Shelby Street Pedestrian Bridge, connects downtown Nashville to the residential suburbs of East Nashville. It was built from 1907-09 and was originally named the Sparkman Street Bridge. The county employed Howard M. Jones, Chief Office Engineer of the Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. Louis Railway, to design and supervise the construction. Jones worked with local contractor Foster and Creighton Company and Gould Contracting Company of Louisville. The bridge contains 48 spans including four steel trusses and two reinforced concrete trusses. Spans over the old Tennessee Central Railroad tracks (now CSX) are the only concrete trusses identified in Tennessee. The bridge was closed to automobile traffic in 1998 and has been restored for pedestrian use, providing outstanding views of the river and downtown skyline.