Concrete monoliths in the plazas on the north and south sides of the Big Dam Bridge came from the bridge’s unusual construction. The bridge is unique as the longest pedestrian/bicycle bridge ever built and the only bridge ever built into a dam. Because this dam did not allow the usual options of placing a bridge on top of the dam or using footings on either side for pilings, the design required the piling footings to be sunk into the dam itself. To do that, the contractor used a huge computer-directed diamond saw to cut massive concrete monoliths from the dam, some as much as six to seven feet high, six feet wide, and six to seven feet deep, with each weighing about 8 tons. Rather than letting them be discarded in a landfill, they were preserved and incorporated by Martin Smith of Larson Barns Smith into the bridge approach plazas as part of the art and story of the Big Dam Bridge.