Novel Monogirder BladeBridge in Atlanta. Source | Larry Bank, Re-Wind USA

The Re-Wind Network Group, a network of faculty, staff and students at five academic institutions repurposing decommissioned wind blades, has completed the construction and installation of its first U.S. pedestrian bridge located at Beaverbrook Park in Atlanta, Georgia.

BladeBridge underside. Source | Joseph Taylor, Re-Wind USA

This BladeBridge project was led by Russell Gentry, a professor at the School of Architecture at Georgia Tech, one of the consortia’s academic institutes. The two 49-meter wind blades, brought in from Colorado, were donated by Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy Co. (Brande, Denmark). First reported by Atlanta’s local news in March 2025, the Beaverbrook Park bridge features a novel design concept — a wooden deck on either side of each installed wind blade to minimize torsional loads. It spans at least 50 feet across the park’s creek. Gentry says their team is working on bringing a second BladeBridge to the area.
 

“I would like to acknowledge the contributions made by the Georgia Tech Re-Wind Team, our collaborators at Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy and our first client, the Wildwood Civic Association here in Atlanta, Georgia,” says Gentry. “We look forward to additional opportunities to repurpose decommissioned wind turbine blades in bridges and other aspects of civil infrastructure. Through the work of the Re-Wind Network — here in the U.S., in Ireland and in the U.K. — we have demonstrated that structural repurposing is a viable option for EOL composite materials, with many advantages as compared to other more intensive recycling methods.”

Two other BladeBridges were installed by the Re-Wind Network in Ireland back in 2022, including this pedestrian bridge in Cork and another in Draperstown. In addition to this work, the consortia has created a “Design Catalog” which showcases concepts of various potential repurposing solutions — not only BladeBridges, but BladePoles as well, with bus shelters and e-mobility hubs under development in the U.S. and in Europe.

The Re-Wind Network will be presenting its work at the 12^th International Conference on Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (FRP) Composites in Civil Engineering (CICE) this July 2025.