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Seven finalists, including three with roots in foreign countries, have been selected in an international competition to design a pedestrian walkway across the West End Bridge.

Designers and companies from Argentina, Mexico and the Netherlands, will vie with competitors from California, Florida, Maryland and Wisconsin to design a structure that will link the historic bridge to trails on Pittsburgh's shorelines.

"This project strikes to the heart of our mission to connect people and communities to the rivers and to make the riverfronts the front yard of the city," said Lisa Schroeder, executive director of the Riverlife Task Force.

The Alcoa Foundation in October provided $413,000 to launch the competition in cooperation with the task force, a nonprofit organization formed in 1999 to spearhead development along the riverfronts.

Competition finalists are: Bridgescape LLC of Columbia, Md.; Endres Ware of Berkeley, Calif.; Index Space Architecture, of Miami, Fla.; La Dallman Architects, of Milwaukee, Wis.; Llonch + Vidalle Architecture of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and New York City; TEN Arquitectos, of Mexico City, Mexico; and New York City West 8 Urban Design and Landscape Architecture of Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

They will have four weeks to further develop a submission after receiving more detailed information, officials said. A seven-member jury will convene in May to select a winner.

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