Atlanta turned a 7,000-pound Colorado turbine blade into a 50-foot bridge at Beaverbrook Park

Image Credit: Allison Carter via Georgia Tech Research News Center A retired wind turbine blade that once generated electricity at a Colorado wind farm has found an unexpected second life in Atlanta, as a pedestrian bridge. According to the Georgia Tech Research News Center, a 15-metre (about 50-foot) blade weighing roughly 7,000 pounds was transported from Colorado and installed across a creek at Beaverbrook Park in northwest Atlanta. The project has created the first bridge of its kind in the United States, turning a decommissioned piece of renewable-energy infrastructure into a functional part of a public park.From turbine to bridgeThe idea began with a practical problem at Beaverbrook Park. Jud Ready, a principal research engineer at the Georgia Tech Research Institute, had been involved with the park for years. While improvements had added an exercise trail, playgrounds, a gazebo and ball fields, visitors still could not easily walk through the wooded portion because a creek cut across the route.A grant from Park Pride helped with the park's improvement efforts, but it was not enough to construct a conventional bridge. Ready then learned about research being carried out by his...