Student Bridge Design Teams to Compete in National Finals (May 30-31)

The 2025 Student Steel Bridge Competition National Finals will take place May 30-31, 2025 at Iowa State University!

Throughout the academic year, elite student engineers across North America have been working to design, fabricate, and build 20-ft steel bridges for a hypothetical nature trail, and now it’s time to put them to the test! (Among other things, their real-life scale bridges need to hold 2,500 lb. of weight.)

This event is a great opportunity to gather personal stories from the enthusiastic engineers who will tackle next-generation infrastructure challenges. The construction phase is timed, as well, so there are always dynamic scenes of students building their bridges as quickly (and safely!) as possible.

Full details are as follows:

WHAT: Student teams from 43 U.S. colleges and universities (including Iowa State) will go head-to-head at the 2025 Student Steel Bridge Competition National Finals. The competition gives them real-life experience that helps them solve infrastructure problems of the future.

Participants were challenged to design, fabricate, and assemble a 20-ft steel bridge to cross over a hypothetical river trail and island wildlife refuge. They are judged on many of the components that factor into real-life bridge design, including speed of construction (as measured by a stopwatch–they hustle!), weight, estimated cost, and aesthetics. The bridges also face a variety of tests, including a vertical load test in which they must support 2,500 lb.

The national champion will take home $8,000 in scholarships, which is just one reason many students describe the National Finals as a highlight of their college careers.

VISUALS/INTERVIEWS AVAILABLE: Passionate university-level students from across North America constructing real steel bridges and putting them through real-world tests. Expect enthusiasm–it takes lots of late nights to get to the Finals!

WHO: Students (many with jobs lined up in structural or bridge engineering); Robert Shaw (who coordinated the first SSBC in 1977); John Parucki (retired head judge who volunteered for 27 years and can speak to the evolution of the competition); staff from the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) and American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)

WHEN: Friday, May 30 (3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.) – Aesthetics Judging, with all bridges on display at the same time. This is a leisurely afternoon; students will have more time for interviews with less background noise.

Saturday, May 31 (8:00 a.m. – approx. 3:00 p.m.) – Main Competition, including timed construction and testing. This is when the action takes place! Expect to get footage of students assembling their bridges as fast as they can, then carrying them to stations throughout the competition area for testing and measurements. The most visually dramatic testing takes place at the vertical load station, where team members find out whether their bridge can hold 2,500 lbs of steel angles. Iowa State University will be the first team to compete Saturday morning.

Both days of the competition are free and open to the public.

WHERE:

• (Friday) Iowa State University South Parks Library Lawn | 701 Morrill Rd, Ames, Iowa
• (Saturday) Iowa State University Lied Recreation Center | 518 Beach Rd, Ames, Iowa

MORE INFORMATION: nationalfinals.studentsteelbridge.org

Day-of Media Contact:
Kate Duby
Communications Content Specialist
American Institute of Steel Construction
312.632.0674
duby@aisc.org