Connecting the communities of Kettering and Oakwood the Ridgeway Road Bridge straddles the Hills and Dales Park, by Fredrick Law Olmstead. The views from the bridge and the sense of forested landscape of rolling hills were important to the surrounding communities. CGS responded by creating gathering and viewing points on opposite ends of the bridge. There are three bridges, the one you pass under and the one you pass over, and the space between the two ends that you occupy. Through careful planning with the City of Kettering Public Works Department and the Ohio Department of Transportation, Cultural Arts for the City off Kettering and the Kettering community, the character of the bridge was transformed into something that created a gathering place for the surrounding community. Seating, screens and luminaires built into the structure of the bridge, highlight view sheds from the bridge deck and create new lines and forms that relate to the surrounding landscape. These enhancements change the way people will use the bridge. City Engineer, Steve Bergstresser, commented that working on the project with CGS was a “transformative point in his career”, because he saw how “infrastructure could become a place that held people in a meaningful way”. The work allowed people to have a different relationship to their infrastructure. Designing by listening to the community, gave them an image of themselves, and imbued the infrastructure with a value added for the neighborhood and for the City.
