said Mann.

According to Mann, AOT unveiled the bridge’s original design in a public meeting last year. The audience turned green at the sight of the proposed design.

The WRC responded and asked the AOT to reconsider the bridge’s aesthetics and allow for more public input, said Mann. It agreed, and, given the required timelines of publicly funded projects, the WRC and AOT scrambled to gather public input, he said.

Along with the input from the public meeting, the WRC assembled an aesthetics committee composed of the WRC commissioners, representatives of the town of Brattleboro and Dummerston, and Kate Anderson of the Brattleboro Town Arts Committee.

The aesthetics committee assembled a number of criteria for the final design which AOT included in its request for proposals.

The bridge project is also unique dueto the number of surrounding roads and trails. The construction team must co-ordinate with travel on Route 30 and Upper Dummerston Road, as well as the West River Trail, the West River Park, and the West River itself.

Linda Figg, president and CEO of FIGG Engineering Group, said the Vermont landscape inspired the West River bridge’s design.

“It’s all about the landscape,” she said, adding that FIGG wanted to “create a bridge that helped reflect nature.”

According to FIGG’s website, the company aims to construct bridges that double as works of art. The company has gone as far as staining a bridge in Moab, Utah, the color of the surrounding desert so the structure would blend into the scenery.

FIGG has built bridges across the country, including the Penobscot Narrows and Observation