The Lake Merritt to Bay Trail bridge will close multiple gaps in the local and regional active transportation network, connecting the heavily-used Lake Merritt trail with the Bay Trail and Brooklyn Basin, as well as the Peralta and Laney College campuses across the Lake Merritt Channel. 

SGA was the Bridge Architect for the project. We led the community engagement process, developed the comprehensive detailed 3D geometrics, prepared PS&E for the architectural and landscape architecture elements, and worked closely with the city’s Project Manager to negotiate approvals with multiple regulatory agencies and the many directly affected stakeholders who have uses within the project footprint.

Working through a complex puzzle of rights-of-way, clearance and access requirements, SGA designed the Lake Merritt to Bay Trail Bridge to follow a graceful S-shape that weaves over a navigable waterway, under a series of structures owned by Caltrans, and over the Union Pacific Railroad, East Bay Municipal Utility District, Embarcadero roadway, as well as eight properties, each with specific land-use designations and geometric constraints. Clearances and landing elevations were designed to ensure that the bridge and channel would remain usable, considering the projected sea level in the year 2050.

The bridge’s curves offer users a constantly changing visual tour of the Oakland Estuary skyline, while the multiple crossings of Lake Merritt Channel allow users to look over the water from varying vantage points. Four touchdown points connect to bike/ped paths leading to multiple destinations. A key design goal was to keep the channel waterway physically and visually open to minimize impacts to habitat and hydraulic capacity, while maximizing views and access for recreational boats. 

Multiple structural and bridge architecture solutions were considered to meet aesthetic, geometric, cost, constructability, and maintenance requirements for the project’s marine environment. SGA’s ultimate solution, developed in collaboration with BCA, is a sculptural architectural form constructed primarily from cast-in-place concrete, with an 87-foot “drop-in” span over the UPRR right-of-way.