Bridges are prominent features of many landscapes. They are often justifiably called on to meet public objectives beyond their transportation function. It becomes the responsibility of the designer to determine what these requirements are and whether the proposed design is really addressing all of the dimensions of the problem, including objectives that may not express themselves in the form of number of lanes, minimum clearances, and other physical criteria. Public requests for structures that emulate historical bridges or architecture are especially difficult to meet given modern transportation demands on the structure and given modern materials and techniques. The process must include recognition of the needs and effects of adjacent interchanges. The techniques used to incorporate contextual and urban design concerns into the design of contemporary bridges so that the public's desire for landmark bridges can be met without resorting to the use of imitations of historical precedents are described. Three case studies are used to illustrate the ideas: the new Charles River Bridge in Boston, Massachusetts, Florida's Clearwater Memorial Causeway Bridge, and the designs for two major crossings of the Raccoon River in Des Moines, Iowa. The aesthetic urban design and community considerations that guided the design for the bridges are described by the projects' architects and urban designers.