On the bridge deck, CDR designed a respite area/pedestrian facility for commuters traveling to and from Oklahoma University. The design pays homage to the university’s start as an agricultural college. A furrowed row design is scored into the concrete sidewalk, representing Oklahoma’s planted fields. Two different tall grass bas relief patterns are cast into the seating walls, which references both the indigenous vegetation but also the state’s Dust Bowl years, when they learned that the native grass was essential to enriching and rooting the soil. Facing Lindsey Street framed by two small, faux brick and quoin columns will be cast text reading, “City of Norman.”
A custom railing was designed for the bridge the design of which mirrors the arched lintels found throughout the University and in columns and cast-stone arches. Centered on the parapet and bracketed by two cast concrete columns with brick and quoin design, will be a concrete panel, cast front and back with a bas-relief image of the Seed Sower, David Ross Boyd, the first president of the university and a symbol of the University’s dedication to education and growth.
