KAI Design & Build, along with joint venture partner Paric Corp., announced the completion of a 1,200-foot-long, elevated pedestrian skywalk project connecting more than 6,000 parking spaces to the main hospital complex on the BJC HealthCare/Washington University Medical Center campus in St. Louis.

KAI’s construction department led the project and provided its architectural design. The project is a component of the BJC HealthCare/Washington University Medical  Center Campus Renewal Project—a long-term project to transform a 16-block campus that includes Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St. Louis Children’s Hospital and the Washington University School of Medicine.

Completed in March, after 264 construction days, the pedestrian connector is a 13-foot-wide tube elevated to heights averaging 40 feet above street level. KAI’s architects designed the connector to blend in with its surroundings, withstand high pedestrian traffic and outside environmental factors such as wind and weather, and provide a comfortable, safe environment for its travelers.

The connector is constructed of tinted, Low-E glass; pre-fabricated steel truss sections (in total weighing 380 tons); 14 concrete piers (2,500 cubic yards of total concrete); and more than 500 sections of glass panels. Its mechanical system consists of a 4-pipe, hot and cold water system that feeds local fan coil units with a couple of local above-ceiling air handlers.

The interior, which could not be completed until the connector was enclosed, incorporates field carpet tiles for its flooring and LED lay-in ceiling fixtures strung along its entire length. The bridge design also incorporates emergency exits, as well as emergency security intercoms (indicated by blue lights) at all garage and building points along its route.

For security reasons as well as aesthetics, lights were installed roughly every 20 feet in the soffit beneath the bridge to illuminate the ground below and minimize the shadow effect cast from the bridge. The connector’s roof consists of an energy-efficient white, mechanically-fastened TPO roofing system.

Power UP Electrical Contractors provided design/build electrical services on the project, with Square UP Builders providing rough and finish carpentry services.