CDR

CDR has taken their Aesthetic  Master Planning experience over the last fourteen years and compiled it into a Booklet of comprehensive overviews of the Master Planning design process.  It is available to Directors, Department Heads and Design professionals from Departments of Transportation, architects and design engineers.  An electronic copy can be requested by contacting them at 301-699-0581 or at info@CreativeDesignResolutions.com.

Parsons Brinkerhoff (PB World) retained CDR in June 2010 to design an Aesthetic Master Plan for the Dominion Blvd project over the Elizabeth River in Chesapeake, Virginia. CDR’s team developed a delicate and powerful imagery scheme promoting the rich history of Virginia and the Chesapeake area.

The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department (AHTD) has begun construction on the largest urban infrastructure project in the states history in Little Rock.  The $140M project involves adding two additional traffic lanes to the I-630/I-430 Interchange as well as more than 200,000 square feet of retaining walls and over eighty pier columns to  support the additional exit and on ramps needed for the expansion. CDR was contacted by Bridgefarmer & Associates, the consulting engineers for AHTD, to re-design an already failed aesthetic design scheme, one that would satisfy the community, AHTD, the Federal Highway Administration and all other constituents.

CDR researched the history of Little Rock’s local fauna, flora and economic background as well as that of Arkansas.  The result was an overwhelming acceptance of a rich Aesthetic  Master Plan to include iconic imagery throughout the projects MSE walls, ramp piers, slopewalls and parapets.

Building three-dimensional computer models is an integral step of CDR’s Master Planning Design and Development process. In its Visualization Case Studies report, the FHWA endorses the use of visualizations for transportation projects.

On Tuesday, October 6, the City of Edmond and ODOT held a ceremony opening the three bridges for the Broadway Extension at Memorial Road Interchange.  CDR’s Master Plan Designs for these bridges borrow elements of Native American basket weaving and the official Oklahoma State emblem incorporated into a central shield found on all three bridges.  Details of the stained slopewalls can be seen on the bridge project gallery.

On Thursday, October 22, we presented the Aesthetic Master Plan for the I-35 Corridor Widening Project at an open community meeting.  This was the culmination of a year’s collaboration with a committee who served as representatives of the community. Mayor Cindy Rosenthal, the mayor of the City of Norman, calls the project, “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to influence the visual impact of a highway corridor.”  To read the complete article, please view "Concrete with Class: Public meeting set today on I-35 aesthetics" written for The Norman Transcript.

The first phase of construction of the I-35 and Rock Creek Road Bridge is underway!

As part of the ongoing Master Plan Design for the I-35 Corridor Widening Project in Norman, Oklahoma, Rock Creek Road Bridge illustrates the City of Norman’s active industries in both breeding quarter horses and crafting saddles. The pier columns seen here are strapped with a weave pattern representing the pressed leather of horse saddles. These areas will be stained to imitate handcrafted leather. To see the complete design, please refer to the bridge project gallery.

For press coverage regarding this project, please view "I-35 corrdior to tell Norman's story" written by Andrew Knittle for The Norman Transcript.

Construction of the I 35 and U.S. 77 Interchange is complete and open to traffic as of July 15!

As part of the ongoing Master Plan Design for the I 35 Corridor Widening Project in Norman, Oklahoma, CDR developed conceptual aesthetics for the U.S. 77 Interchange, which were cast using our sister company’s form liners. (Please visit Creative Form Liners’ website for more information.)

U.S. 77 Interchange illustrates Oklahoma’s Cross Timbers ecoregion, which is comprised mostly of prairies, savanna, and light woodland. Aesthetic treatments for this bridge include stylized mixed grasses affecting the wing walls, wrapping around the piers, and also spanning the parapet.  Commuters driving toward this bridge will also be able to spot the official state bird, the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, flying low above the grass blades represented on the piers and wing walls.  Overall staining for the bridge uses a cream base to catch sunlight and maximize shadows cast by the two-inch reliefs, while the beams supporting the deck are stained an earthen red color.

Despite being brought on only weeks before the project let, CDR’s designs were able to be completed and implemented so quickly that the project finished ahead of schedule.

For press coverage regarding this project, please view “US 77 overpass opens early” written by M. Scott Carter for The Norman Transcript.

CDR enhances infrastructure development through context sensitive solutions that consider the surrounding architecture, aesthetics, history, natural environment, needs, and values of the community. Currently, we are working on designs for the third phase of a master plan of 8 bridges in Norman, Oklahoma. Each of the bridges visually recounts a theme related to the unique history and culture of this city that grew up around the railroad and the prairie lands.

Check out designs for the first construction phase in our project section.