People Spotlight: Meet Bradley Touchstone
Our People Spotlight series gives you an inside look at our technical experts around the world. This week we are highlighting a national practice lead for our complex bridge group in the U.S. West, U.S. East and Canada regions and are providing an insight into their inspiration and work.
Bradley Touchstone is an architect with more than 35 years of experience specializing in complex bridge design. His work is visible on major signature bridges across North America and around the world, including the Gordie Howe International Bridge that spans the border between the U.S. and Canada, and the Kosciuszko Bridge in New York City. Bradley holds a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Mississippi State University and studied at the Technical University of Barcelona. Passionate about designing unforgettable bridges, he uses his architectural background to inform his bridge design, believing that bridges should not only be functional but impactful.
What inspired you to join the industry?
I’ve loved architecture since I was young. I even took drafting in high school. I grew up in a family of builders in Laurel, Mississippi. Early on, I saw how architects shape communities and knew I wanted to create places that matter.
That said, I didn’t set out to design bridges. After graduating, I launched my own architecture practice. Not long after, I received a call from Gene Figg — an icon in the world of bridge design. He was looking for someone with a fresh, creative perspective and believed my architectural background could bring that to the table. What began as a collaboration evolved into a series of signature bridge projects, starting in Toledo and Tampa, and eventually expanding across the country. That experience pulled me into the world of bridge design.
When Gene passed in 2001, I reestablished my practice with a new focus: bridges. I partnered with AECOM on major projects across the U.S. and internationally before joining the firm in 2019 as National Practice Lead for complex bridge architecture. I’m now in a position that blends my design and architectural background, and desire to shape spaces that connect and benefit communities.
We have an obligation to the communities we serve to create beautiful, meaningful structures that will endure the test of time.
What is your favorite AECOM project that you’ve worked on and why?
I’ve worked on many major bridges, but two smaller bridges stand out. The first is the 2nd Street Bridge in Austin, Texas, that we completed in 2013. This is a canted arch bridge, about 160 feet long and that is also known as the “Butterfly Bridge” for its outward-leaning steel ribs. It carries two lanes of traffic and a pedestrian sidewalk over Shoal Creek.
2nd Street is the centerpiece of the City of Austin’s Seaholm District project, which revitalized an industrial part of Austin on the edge of downtown. The bridge links the district’s east and west sections and is now also a destination, integrated with an adjacent plaza that includes sitting areas and coffee shops.
I was responsible for community involvement, bridge type selection — along with the structural team — and preliminary and final design for all architectural and lighting components. As with all our bridge projects, I worked closely with our bridge engineers to deliver a bridge that met the city and community’s vision for durability and beauty. We evaluated girder, cable-stayed, and arch bridge options before selecting the canted arch bridge type as it is a dynamic and sculptural form that creates an interesting profile from the widest range of vantage points. Every detail had the user in mind. For example, we built a gap between the sidewalk slab and the bridge’s traffic deck to allow light to pass to travelers from the Shoal Creek below. With its trapezoidal shaped steel ribs, galvanized wire rope hangers and non-fracture critical structural system, we delivered a bridge that is not only striking but resilient and easy to maintain.
Another favorite is the recently completed Christian to Crescent Bridge along the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia. Like 2nd Street, this bridge is a destination. It gives pedestrians and cyclists opportunities to create memories in an urban environment. The bridge is part of a 4-mile constructed stretch of an 8-mile planned Philadelphia section of a 128-mile Schuylkill River Trail of which half is currently complete.
I was the lead architect for this 650-foot-long cable-stayed bridge. This design presented technical challenges in part because the bridge is set in an active industrial area. I initially focused my design on its alignment. The reverse curve that I introduced was born from practicality, it allowed us to avoid those problematic areas. It also gave us the advantage of shifting the perspective. Providing a curved view added a sense of journey for people using the bridge.
Curving the alignment also led to the selection of a cable-stayed bridge. We opted for this structure in part because it provided a more prominent vertical profile for the bridge. Its lattice cable pattern and soaring pylons also allowed us to create a striking landmark along the river, one of the missions of the developers, the City of Philadelphia and the Schuylkill River Development Corporation.
These two projects, though smaller than many I’ve worked on, are special. The 2nd Street Bridge helped bring an underused area of the city back to life. The Christian to Crescent Bridge provides a new type of greenspace and an entirely off-road means of moving through the city. Each is a testament to how bridge and landscape architecture can make lasting community improvements.
The 2nd Street Bridge helped bring an underused area of the city back to life. The Christian to Crescent Bridge provides a new type of greenspace and an entirely off-road means of moving through the city. Each is a testament to how bridge and landscape architecture can make lasting community improvements.
Tell us a story of how your work positively impacted the community.
The Hastings Bridge project in Hastings, Minnesota, showed me the lasting impact that our work can have. I was the architect and visual quality manager for the 545-foot-long bridge that carries Highway 61 over the Mississippi River into this small town. We completed it for the Minnesota Department of Transportation as a replacement for two previous iterations built in the same location. It’s the longest freestanding tied arch bridge in North America, and with a 100-year lifespan, it was built to last.
While the bridge is vital to the area’s transportation network, what struck me was that the community was less concerned about the crossing than its potential impact on the area around it. This bridge touches down on Hastings’ Main Street. Earlier bridge abutments had left behind neglected spaces. Residents were concerned that we would repeat this history. Instead, we listened. We created a plaza underneath the bridge on Main Street that became a town gathering point.
We also added an artist to our project team named Craig David. He designed two murals that became springboards for art along the town’s riverfront and public places. The community so loved the murals that we modified the abutment design so they could be detached if the bridge was torn down. When you spark that kind of community involvement, it becomes a magical experience.
The community so loved the murals that we modified the abutment design so they could be detached if the bridge was torn down. When you spark that kind of community involvement, it becomes a magical experience.
Share a piece of career advice.
Confidence is important, but so is collaboration. Be open to input from your team members. You might have a clear vision for how to approach a project, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be improved with other perspectives. Listening to your colleagues often leads to better, more creative outcomes.