The overall cantilever bridge width is 65 feet (19.8 meters). Bridge length extending out from the post supports closest to the canyon wall is 70 feet (21.34 meters). The outer and inner 32 inch (81.3 cm) wide by 72 inch (182.9 cm) deep bridge box beams are supported by (8) 32 inch (81.3 cm) by 32 inch box posts having (4) post on each side of the visitor’s center once completed. The (8) posts are anchored in pairs into four large concrete footings that are in turn anchored to the bedrock by (96) 2-1/2 inch (6.4 cm) diameter high strength steel threaded rod rock anchors grouted 46 feet (14 meters) deep into the rock.
Bridge deck has been made with diamant low-iron glass and structural interlayer glass consisting of (6) layers. Deck width is 10 foot 2 inches (3.11 meters). Bridge glass railings were made with the same glass as the deck but fewer layers (3) bent to follow the walkway’s curvature. The glass railings are 5 feet 2 inches (1.58 meters) tall and have been designed for high wind pressures.
The bridge was assembled on top of the canyon wall in line with its final placement and counterweights weighed around 1.6 million pounds (727,272 kg).
The Skywalk bridge deck was designed for a 100 pound per square foot live load along with code required seismic and wind forces. Some challenging design aspects of the project were wind loading and pedestrian induced vibration analysis. provided consulting on these two tuned mass dampers inside the outer box beam as well as one inside the inner box beam at the furthest extension of the bridge were installed to reduce vibration induced by pedestrian footfall at the professional recommendation. The bridge weighs a little over 1,000,000 pounds (454,545 kg) without counterweights but including the tuned mass dampers, railing hardware, glass rails, glass deck and steel box beams. The walkway could carry (822) people that weigh 200 pounds (91 kg) each without overstress but maximum occupancy at one time is 120 people.
- Grand Canyon Skywalk - 4,000 Ft
- CN Tower - 1,815 Ft
- Taipei 101 - 1,671 Ft
- Petronas Twoers - 1,483 Ft
- Sears Tower - 1,450 Ft
- Empire State Building - 1,250 Ft
- Stratosphere Tower - 1,149 Ft
- Gateway Arch - 630 Ft
- Petronas Twoers - 1,483 Ft
- Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank - 587 Ft
Skywalk engineer, Kenneth “Bill” Karren (Lochsa Engineering, Las Vegas Nevada) was sitting around the conference table for many hours with the makers of the Skywalk glass St. Gobain (Germany). They kept talking about how strong the glass was and that it could stop a bullet. Bill asked them to prove it and requested a sample of the glass be sent to Las Vegas for him to shoot with his gun. St. Gobain obliged, and Bill took the glass into the desert outside Las Vegas and shot an actual sample of the glass used on the Skywalk with his Weatherby .257 magnum rifle from 100 yards. The glass not only caught the bullet, it held together. The glass was destroyed, but it did indeed catch the bullet and the overall structure of the glass was intact.
