Highland Bridge

This is the 3rd and last bridge to cross when heading from Downtown (16th St Mall) to the Highlands. It's a pedestrian bridge that crosses above a highway. On a clear day, you can see a beautiful view of the Rocky Mountains from this bridge. It's awesome. Once crossed over to the Highlands, there are many cool looking towers, buildings, and apartments, along with good eateries.

"People are unhappy because they build walls instead of bridges. Let them be known as Bridge Builders." - K. Orion (on the plaque)

This is a cool 320 foot cable bridge for pedestrians and bicyclists. The triple rib steel arch is approximately 70 ft high at its' apex. The bridge deck is suspended by the cable stays!

There are actually three bridges that are used to get from 16th Street in the Highland Neighborhood to Commons Park near Union Station in Downtown Denver. The first two bridges are Platte River Bridge and the Millennium Bridge. On Google Maps, the Highland Bridge & Platte River Bridge is called Highland Cable Bridge and ends in Commons Park.

This particular bridge is the third one. It spans Interstate 25. It begins in the Highland Neighborhood community where everyone walks around. It for sure connects Central St & 16th Street to Platte Street Plaza on the south end near Platte Street. It may connect Platte Street Plaza to Commons Park if it is indeed part of the Highland Bridge. I'm a little befuddled.

Earlier in the day, I parked over on Little Raven St and walked through Commons Park over to Platte Street. I deemed that Highland Bridge was too far to cross at the time. I drove my car to Central Street. I parked for free on Central Street close to the entrance of this bridge. If you're up for a walk and want to avoid parking meters in downtown, this is the place to park!

I walked across the bridge from Central to Platte Street Plaza. There's a circular ramp that you can use if you prefer to use it over stairs. Great option for bicycles, skaters, wheelchairs & ADA compliant. The bridge deck is 13 feet high. This circular ramp has this sculpture called National Velvet at the bottom. It's an oddity to say the least. ( https://www.yelp.com/biz/national-velvet-denver?hrid=WCAitjhje8Tjf-HrHljjPg&utm_campaign=www_review_share_popup&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=(direct) )

Over on Platte Street, I visited the Habit Doughnut Dispensary. It was such a hot walk, but the doughnut place had their outdoor misters on and that was such a relief. I sat inside to eat my doughnut before heading back.

Once i was back at Central Street, I debated on walking to Little Man Ice Cream. Since I was already overheating, I chose to drive up to it. I almost regretted that decision because the free parking was all taken. There is a paid lot across the street, but I wanted to avoid paying to park. After circling a few times, I finally got into a spot in front of the store! If you can endure the exercise from Central Street or further, it would be better to walk.

This bridge is the perfect way to get from Point A to Point B (or anywhere in between)! I stopped over the Interstate to watch the cars below. The bridge is easy to walk across. This is definitely a great addition to the other two bridges and the Highland Neighborhood!!

Opened in 2006, the Highland Bridge is a pedestrian bridge that crosses over Interstate 25. It is part of the pedestrian/bicycle bridge trilogy that connects the 16th Street Mall in Downtown Denver to the Highland neighborhood.

The Highland Bridge is a modern pedestrian/bicycle bridge that provides a contrast to the historic Highland neighborhood. This is a modern bridge that includes its own sculpture along the ramp called "The National Velvet" Depending on your imagination the sculpture may look like a pile of sausages or some other stuff. Regardless of what it looks like and what some people say it looks like, this red sculpture has gotton people to talk and it has its own Yelp listing. Now, what gets me to talk is the way that the Highland Bridge along with the other two 16th Street Mall pedestrian/bicycle bridges: the Platte River Bridge (center) and Millennium Bridge (east) play a helpful role extending the 16th Street Mall in Downtown to Highland. These three bridges are so aesthetically pleasing, that draw people's eyes towards them. I noticed the Millennium Bridge as far away as the 16th Street Mall at Welton Street.

Although I had been on the Millennium Bridge and Platte River Bridge a few times, it was on the first day of our return vacation to Denver that my brother and I walked on the Highland Bridge. From my experience the three bridges together create a unique experience which is walking or biking from the downtown to Highland. That experience starts where the 16th Street Mall ends at the Millennium Bridge. People arrive to and exit this bridge by stairs or elevators. This bridge transverses the railroad tracks. It leads into the scenic Commons Park. Beyond the park stands the second bridge. This is the Platte River Bridge which crosses over the scenic namesake River with minimal elevation gain. At the other end of the bridge, 16th Street returns. It crosses the commercial Platte Street. Directly straight ahead is the anesthetics of the Highland Bridge. Unlike the Millennium Bridge, users can ascend the bridge via a ramp. It is at the ramp where the "National Velvet" sculpture stands. Although this sculpture gets plenty of attention, what gets less attention is the linear sculpture that the bridge looks over. That is Interstate 25, the massive river of concrete that connects Las Cruces, New Mexico to Interstate 90 in Wyoming. I found it neat watching the hundreds of vehicles passing underneath on the Interstate. Looking the other way, it was neat to look towards the Downtown Denver skyline that my brother and I had left, which is in reality was close but seemed a world away. Straight ahead was the Highland neighborhood which my brother and I explored after stepping off the Highland Bridge. Later we would return to the Highland Bridge and hike the South Platte River and Cherry Creek Trails back to Downtown Denver.

Great bridge to visit when you're in the area. Cozy and nice architecture. Stop by and check this out!

If you're into walking/exploring cities, head west down 16th St towards Highland Bridge. Wonderful exercise, and the bridge is a cool spot to stop and take pics, gawk at the thousands of cars passing underneath via I-25, and to just stand and feel the vibration of this wonderfully designed pedestrian bridge. Do yourself one better, and go up one block to Upper Highland to Little Man ice cream and reward yourself for your trek!!

Cheers!
RS

All the way back in the ancient history of late 2019, I took a trip to Denver for the Great American Beer Fest (remember in-person events? Ha.) Over the course of that weekend, I also explored as much of the rest of Denver's beer scene as I was able to do on foot from the heart of downtown - and one of my (many!) favorite breweries that trip was Denver Beer Co/Cerveceria Colorado (can you tell I'm going crazy waiting to be able to travel again?) Anyway, when I saw to get there, I would be crossing not one but two pedestrian bridges important enough to have yelp pages, I knew I had to add my name to the list of silly yelp people weird enough to go around ironically reviewing random bridges, cause why not? Of course, then life got busy, but it's not like the entire planet could change overnight, right? Then covid hit, and turns out it could. So I didn't look at my saved review drafts for like a whole year.

Well anyway, now that it seems like we *will* have a future, I was thinking about how much I'd love to be back in Denver again, and realized: it's a bridge. Public-access pedestrian bridges are probably the only thing that *haven't* changed during covid, so you know what? Have a couple year and a half old reviews of bridges, so I can get them out of my queue. I'm sure if it's actually been made meaningfully different in the past year, a Denver local will see this and let me know, but I can't imagine. :D

So... this is a pedestrian bridge. As bridges go, I'd argue there isn't anything particularly impressive about it, unlike its immediate neighbor, the Millennium Bridge. But if you're staying in downtown and planning on visiting breweries on the other side of the river by foot (both of which are things I intend to do again in the hopefully relatively near future!), you'll need this bridge, and it's not like it costs money. Extra bonus: it crosses over a rather pretty river, and ends into Common Park, so it felt like a bit of calm from the rest of the city. I definitely have enjoyable memories of crossing in a rush to drink some beer, then crossing back to downtown in a far more relaxed manner having had said beer, and just stopping for a moment to enjoy the sound of the water rushing by underneath. Made a great early afternoon before the insanity of the event in the evening.

But it is still just a bridge.

Who doesn't like a bridge next to a pile of bright red poop?
Seriously, though. This bridge does a wonderful job of connecting Lo-Hi to Platte Street.

An extension of the 16th Street Mall, I crossed this pedestrian bridge (going over Valley Highway) and unwittingly ended up in the Highland neighborhood. I spent my first afternoon in Denver aimlessly rambling about and passed a lot of time in the green spaces along the South Platte River.

The Highland Bridge is an attractive architectural piece, which is beautiful enough to warrant taking photos of it. From here you get a fun vantage point to capture views of Denver too. If you are exploring Denver on foot (which you should), make a point to check out all the parks and pedestrian bridges near the South Platte River.

[#Yelp365: 61/365]

As many other reviewers have stated, this bridge is great for going to downtown Denver to enjoy the sights and events but without having to endure the headaches and frustrations of the downtown traffic congestion and having to pay ridiculous parking fees. This bridge is well built and has a spiral ramp on one end to allow easy access for bikes and other wheeled transport. Its also good place to watch the traffic from I25 both north and south.

I love this bridge. It makes life so much easier when you have to get to downtown from the Highland area and back again.
Best of all, it's GREEN (as in good for the earth, it is white in color.)
No more driving to downtown and paying for parking.
YAY!

It's a cool bridge to bike across; there's a spiral ramp that feeds you from the lower Eastern Highlands area to the higher Western Highlands area. No need to get off your bike; just slow down and pedal right up or down it. Which is a huge plus on convenience.

pro tip: people in this area don't know what "on your left/right" means. Be prepared to stomp on your bike brakes if riding. :p [It should be a mandatory question for residency admittance in this state.]