Not many universities can say that a public transit system is a truly integral part of their campus. Yet, as any Northeastern student knows, Ruggles MBTA station is the official (unofficial) unifying passageway between NU’s Fenway and Roxbury sections of campus — that and the Columbus garage, a building that acts more regularly as a storied, mazing walkway than it does a parking lot. Though traversing the T station on the way to class certainly demonstrates a kind of sought-after urban integration, the reality of its sights and smells is hard to romanticize.
“I really like how we have a condensed campus,” said second year health science and business major Amanda Hynes. “It feels like a campus within a city, which is why I came here instead of somewhere like BU.”
That being said, Hynes pointed out that “it is kind of hard to get over to the [Columbus] side of campus.”
Hynes’ perspective is widely held among Northeastern students. Though Northeastern may have a more well-defined campus than some of its neighboring schools, here, “like everywhere else in the world, there’s room for improvement,” noted Travis Flynn, a fifth year economics student.
Well, Huskies, there’s good news. The dramatic events of Sunday, Oct. 14 have brought us a couple of (hundred) steps closer to a cohesive campus and away from our awkward commutes. Northeastern’s new 132-foot-long pedestrian walkway is set to bridge the gap between the Fenway and Roxbury parts of campus.
Early that Sunday morning, students, staff, and construction workers alike spectated the dramatic landing of a 242,000-pound stretch of orange steel above the five MBTA tracks that once divided Northeastern’s campus. Viewers, like fourth year civil engineering and economics major Michael Tormey, watched in awe as one of the largest cranes on the East Coast conducted an aerial dance of hoisting, hovering, and hemming the largest section of the bridge to bring together either side of campus.
“I knew I had to come out to see [the installation], being a construction nerd who’s casually followed this project that’s been going on throughout my entire time at Northeastern,” said Tormey. “There were so many more people than I expected there to be for an event like watching a steel bridge get dropped into place at 1 a.m. on a Saturday night.”
This long-awaited development will ultimately bring a tangible cohesion to NU’s urban campus that currently sprawls between two neighborhoods and multiple rail lines.
“Right now, it’s a weird divide,” said Flynn. “There are so many things on [the Huntington] side of campus that the ‘Ruggles split’ makes [the separation] so obvious — it’s polarizing.”
Like its continued installment, the bridge itself was no simple feat.
“When I first saw the mockups of the bridge design, I was a little skeptical that it would fit into campus or that it would even be nice looking,” Tormey said. “But, after understanding all of the thought and engineering that went into this incredible structure and seeing it in person, physically lifted into place, I can now appreciate how impressive this bridge is.”
An asymmetric construction made to emulate organic movement, like the flow of a stream, the bridge displays thoughtful, artistic, and conceptual architecture. Although this winding, weathering steel structure may appear effortless, its construction is actually the result of specific constraints imposed by rail authorities.
“It’s really hard, in an urban environment, to have that kind of freedom” necessary to make the structural changes that students want to see, Flynn said. According to Bob Shaeffner of Payette, the principal firm to imagine the ISEC bridge, structural engineers had to navigate a number of logistical factors while also demonstrating respect to overall aesthetic quality, pedestrian experience, and preferred views.
“I see this bridge project as yet another example of Northeastern shaping and reshaping its space,” Tormey noted. “I also think, from a larger perspective, these train tracks physically separate two neighborhoods of Boston … the more we connect them, the better.”
While a sight in itself, the bridge’s fanned walls will allow for some impressive glimpses of the city. Bridging the divide between two hearts of campus, transforming the relationship between Fenway and Roxbury, Northeastern is better integrating the student body as well as itself within the landscape of Boston. And, with the Prudential shining in the distance and the T rumbling below your feet, it’s fair to expect that this bridge will be a pretty quintessentially ‘Boston’ experience — well, minus the Dunkin’.