The Robert L. B. Tobin Land Bridge at Phil Hardberger Park, the first dual-purpose bridge in the U.S., has won the American Society of Landscape Architects Honor Award for General Design.

Completed in 2020, the land bridge spans 175 feet across Wurzbach Parkway on the city’s North Side. It reconnects a bisected tract of Hardberger Park, restores an ecological sanctuary along the longest creek corridor in Bexar County and reduces traffic collisions with wildlife. 

“The bridge accommodates both wildlife and humans,” said Melissa Kazen, executive director for the Phil Hardberger Park Conservancy. “There may be other dual crossings (in other cities) now, but we were the first.”

The ASLA Honor Award, announced on Sept. 5, will be presented to land bridge architects Stimson Studio in October at the annual ASLA Conference in New Orleans.

“We set out to create something more than infrastructure — an extension of the land, a new home for native species and a place for people to reconnect,” Stimson founder Stephen Stimson said in a statement. “This award affirms that mission.”

Opening to the public in 2010, Phil Hardberger Park existed as two parcels with six lanes of Wurzbach Parkway slicing through the landscape, causing fatal collisions with wildlife.

The land bridge was financed through a voter-approved $13 million bond in 2017 and $10 million in grants and donations. The bridge opened in December 2020.

The ASLA awards page commends the land bridge for diversifying the habitat with more than 50 reintroduced species.

The Robert L. B. Tobin Land Bridge spans 175 feet across and is the first in the U.S. that accommodates crossing for both humans and wildlife. Credit: Courtesy / Justin Moore at Airborne Aerial Photography

“Before the first anniversary of the bridge,” the ASLA awards page says, ”every mammal species known to reside within the park was captured on the land bridge’s trail cameras, including bobcat, white-tailed deer and ringtail cat.”

The page includes comment from the awards jury: “This project makes an incredibly difficult task of building a functional landscape on structure; creating a welcoming space over a highway; balancing the needs of humans and non-humans alike; and connecting ecological fragments look easy. This is an impressive ecological investment by the community, and a well-executed project by the Landscape Architect and design team.” 

Kazen said the bridge has won state and regional awards. Recognition from ASLA, however, is the bridge’s first national award.

“I hope this will help other communities solve habitat fragmentation and wildlife vehicle collisions in an innovative way,” she said. “They can look at what we’ve done here in San Antonio.”