This paper discusses design considerations for creating high quality civil works with an emphasis on bridges. The authors pursue a design study and analysis approach to highlight the specifics of infrastructure design for regional identity, based on their own work on a series of bridges in the Dutch Zaanstreek region. Subsequently two highlights of the authors work, the award winning Juliana Bridge and the wildlife crossing in Rijssen, are used to illustrate how to create good infrastructure design in sensitive contexts, without making use of a neo-vernacular vocabulary.