Bridge of Glass and Union Station

Dale Chihuly was born in Tacoma, and the city has made him the patron saint of its downtown. The Bridge of Glass is the clearest expression of that: a pedestrian bridge about 500 feet long that crosses over Interstate 705 to link the Washington State History Museum and Union Station on the hill with the Museum of Glass on the waterfront. The bridge opened in 2002 and combines practical transit with a free outdoor gallery, because three major Chihuly installations line the walk. The Seaform Pavilion is a ceiling of thousands of glass pieces in marine colours, lit so that the structure seems to glow overhead. The Crystal Towers are two towers of glass ice shapes that catch daylight and throw it back. The Venetian Wall is a long curved display of Chihuly's Venetians, Ikebana and Persian forms in rich colours, mounted behind glass. Together they give a cross-section of the artist's themes that you can walk through in about fifteen minutes, though many visitors linger for photographs. At the top of the bridge sits Union Station, a Beaux-Arts railway depot completed in 1911 for the Northern Pacific, then the western terminus of the line. Its copper dome is one of Tacoma's landmarks. The building has been restored and now serves as a federal courthouse, but the rotunda is open to the public for a look, and a Chihuly collection is displayed in the waiting room, adding another colourful stop to a free downtown stroll.

The best time for the bridge is late in the afternoon when the sun lowers and the glass colours deepen, or after dark when the Seaform Pavilion is lit from within. Midday summer sun can bleach the effect and bring crowds. The walkway is smooth and level, wheelchair accessible, and wide enough for small groups to pause for photos without blocking others. A light jacket helps on windy days since the bridge sits above the traffic corridor and catches the breeze off the water.

Union Station is a working courthouse, so security screening applies and access hours follow courthouse schedules. Expect to pass a metal detector, leave sharp items in the car and keep voices low. The rotunda and the Chihuly installation are the main draws; check the courthouse's posted hours before heading in, and be aware that the building can be closed on weekends and holidays. Outside, the station's steps, columns and dome are worth a photograph at any hour.

A natural route is to start at Union Station and the History Museum, cross the bridge toward the water, finish at the Museum of Glass plaza, then walk back along the Foss Waterway. That makes a compact loop of an hour or two without a car, and links well with a ride on the Tacoma Link light rail, which stops nearby. If you have limited time in Tacoma, this free stroll is the best single introduction to what the city does with glass, history and its harbour, and it costs nothing.

A little background adds to the walk. Chihuly grew up in Tacoma, studied at the University of Washington and went on to cofound the Pilchuck Glass School, which helped turn Washington into a centre of studio glass. Tacoma's civic leaders invited him to design the bridge, and the result was part of a wider push that saw the waterfront rebuilt around art and museums.

Reading the small plaques along the route makes the three installations feel like chapters of one story rather than separate decorations, and it is a pleasant way to start a longer downtown museum day.