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New Bedford’s pedestrian bridge across Route 18 has won a worldwide architectural award.
The bridge’s designer, Boston-based Fennick McCredie Architecture, was named a platinum winner in the transportation and infrastructure category of the International Architecture & Design Awards last week.
The bridge was completed last year as part of the South Coast Rail project, allowing pedestrians to reach the city’s new MBTA station from Purchase Street.
“It really focused on the idea of connectivity — the bridge connecting the neighborhood to the train station,” said Deborah Fennick, the bridge’s architect. “It’s kind of a game-changer project in terms of connectivity.”
Fennick said it feels great to be acknowledged alongside many other talented architects from around the world.
Other platinum award winners included an O-shaped skyscraper in Russia, a fire station in California wrapped in a heptagon of reflective glass, and a Japanese “regenerative vegan house” designed to have a low environmental impact. Other categories recognized a wide variety of designs including product packaging, furniture, and cinematography. The awards came from Architecture & Design Community, an organization founded in 2019.
Fennick McCredie Architecture’s entry described the pedestrian bridge as a “spectacular visual gateway” to New Bedford.
Fennick reached her final bridge design through an extensive collaboration with multiple city departments, the MBTA, and local artists. New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell insisted on a design with a strong aesthetic impact, turning down some versions that didn’t convey enough significance. (The city was less successful in its recent attempt to lobby state transportation officials for a visually pleasing replacement to the New Bedford-Fairhaven Bridge.)
Mitchell “expressed his displeasure” with earlier design renderings and told top state officials that “if the state would not improve the design, they should not build it at all,” according to a statement from Public Information Officer Jonathan Darling.
“The state agreed to reboot the design process, leading to Fennick’s collaboration and award-winning design,” Darling’s statement continued.
The MBTA agreed to pay the full $21 million cost of the bridge and transfer it to the city upon completion.
The pedestrian bridge features “nautically inspired” wood handrails, bright lighting, and a glass elevator tower with a “four seasons” design by local artists Tracy Silva Barbosa and Dena Haden.
The new structure replaced a much smaller pedestrian bridge that has since been torn down. The previous bridge was named in honor of local Korean War veteran Andre Lopes, and the new bridge also bears his name, though the exact phrasing may not be final.
The Legislature passed a state law in November 2024 to name it the “Andre Lopes Korean War Veteran overpass.” But the mayor filed a proposal with the City Council two months later to name it the “Andre Lopes Memorial Bridge,” saying the state “would have no role in its naming” because the MBTA had agreed to transfer the bridge’s ownership to the city.
The City Council discussed the mayor’s proposal in a May 2025 committee meeting, but has not yet taken action.
Locals have taken advantage of the bridge’s high visibility during public demonstrations, including recent No Kings events. Fennick said she was glad to see that.
“It’s a place for people to gather, which is really wonderful,” she said.
The architect said she expects to visit New Bedford again soon — she’s currently working on early planning for the city’s new airport terminal.
Email Grace Ferguson at gferguson@newbedfordlight.org
Editor’s note: This story was updated on Thursday, May 7, 2026, to include additional information from Public Information Officer Jonathan Darling, clarifying that Mayor Jon Mitchell insisted on an aesthetically significant bridge design.
I like the old bridge
It’s a nice bridge too bad it cost $21 million I travel under that bridge twice a day and literally have seen maybe about 20 people use it
When is Nick Shirley coming to NB!
This is a very expensive bridge in a city that has third world infrastructure maintenance. Then the city demands ownership and just wait until it’s time to maintain this thing and the mayor wants to increase property taxes for something that the state built and should have retained ownership of. We could have four or five basic bridges for the price that this one cost and to call it “award winning” and beautiful is a complete joke.
You know you live in Massachusetts when it would have been smarter to keep the old bridge and use the $21 Million to take care of our city’s budget deficit.
Wow, well said!