John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge (Nashville, Tennessee)

 landmark, NRHP - National Register of Historic Places, bridge

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The Shelby Street Bridge (sometimes called the Shelby Avenue Bridge) is a truss bridge that spans the Cumberland River in Nashville, Tennessee. It was originally opened on July 5, 1909 and was reopened as a pedestrian bridge on August 3, 2003. The bridge spans 960 m (3,150 ft) and is one of the longest pedestrian bridges in the world.

The Shelby Street Bridge was originally known as the Sparkman Street Bridge and was built one block away from Broadway Avenue on Sparkman Street. The bridge was constructed at a cost of about $475,000. Another bridge called the Jefferson Street Bridge which was virtually identical to it was built at the same time. The Jefferson Street Bridge was opened a year after the Sparkman Street Bridge. The substructures of the bridges were light grey or white concrete and the superstructures were made of steel that had been painted black.

The bridge was the first in North America to have concrete arched trusses.

The bridge was designed and construction was supervised by Howard M. Jones who was the chief office engineer of the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway. The original architectural drawings as approved by Jones are archived at the Metro Transportation Offices.

State inspectors declared the bridge to be in "poor" condition in 1992, and the bridge was closed to vehicular traffic in 1998. The bridge was originally slated for demolition. However, because the bridge is so architecturally appealing and historical it was decided to convert it to a pedestrian bridge rather than demolishing it. The success of the Walnut Street Bridge as a part of Chattanooga's urban renewal efforts was a major consideration in keeping the bridge.

The bridge was refurbished and includes an elevator, ramps and stairways. The bridge has a center lane that is fifteen feet across to accommodate bicycles. Originally it was thought that a trolley might use the center lane but that idea was abandoned in favor of a bicycle lane. On each side of the bicycle lane are ten foot wide elevated boardwalk-style sidewalks. The bridge includes four scenic pedestrian overlooks that have artistic renderings of the history of life on the Cumberland River in the metal of the railing. The bridge is dramatically lit at night.

The refurbished bridge is part of the Metro Nashville Greenway system which is administered by the Parks Department. The Eastern terminus includes a pedestrian plaza with special landscaping and is very close to LP Field. The Western terminus comes out facing the Schermerhorn Symphony Center and is very close to the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Gaylord Entertainment Center.

The refurbishment of the bridge cost in excess of $15 million and was done under the supervision and planning of the Tennessee Department of Transportation. A new bridge called The Gateway Bridge was built to handle the vehicle traffic that used to travel over the Shelby Street Bridge.