Monarch Highway Bridges - Interstate 35 Ankeny to Ames Corridor
Pier brick pattern example
Interstate 35 travels through Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. In 2016, these 6 states and the Federal Highway Administration signed a Memorandum of Understanding pledging to collaborate on best practices in right-of-way and other land management in support of pollinators and to increase public awareness of their role.
The I-35 route was named the Monarch Highway to celebrate the amazing and iconic butterfly species and its exceptional annual two-way migration, a critical part of which occurs along this route.
Brick pattern at HOINT trail tunnel
The integral veneer brickwork on the new overhead bridges will reinforce the Monarch Highway theme with its design features. In total, 7 bridges will be replaced in the Ankeny to Ames corridor, and each central supporting pier of those bridges will contain a unique illustrative closeup view of the Monarch’s wing pattern. The bricks portray individual wing scales, and the multiple brick colors recall the Monarch’s pigmentation in a sustainable way.
The abutment bricks illustrate a Monarch caterpillar as well as binary code. The 7 bridges will spell out “Monarch Highway” on the west and east ends of the bridges for both northbound and southbound I-35 using this “binary caterpillar” font.
Monarch Caterpillars with a Message
Each bridge has multi-colored brick “caterpillars” displayed at each corner. The caterpillars are also binary codes (the zeros and ones of common computer language) corresponding to letters. Together, the 7 new bridges between Ankeny and Ames will spell out “Monarch Highway” on the left and right sides of the bridges, for both northbound and southbound directions.
