Student Steel Bridge Competition Showcase Ideas for Wildlife Crossing

Photo: The University of Florida took home the overall first place prize at the 2022 Student Steel Bridge Competition National Finals at Virginia Tech. Article and image provided by the National Steel Bridge Alliance

The 2022 Student Steel Bridge Competition National Finals at Virginia Tech challenged students to design, fabricate, and construct a conceptual scaled steel bridge to serve as a hypothetical wildlife crossing over I-90 in Washington state.

The Student Steel Bridge Competition is a partnership between the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).

The bridges in the competition had the following requirements:

• Must have a deck truss design (so as not to deter wildlife with design elements above the surface).
• Must have skewed piers and include a cantilever.
• Must be designed to support the weight of the green surface, wildlife, pedestrians, and maintenance and park vehicles.

The rules did not allow any construction activity within the highway confines, to limit traffic interference.

34 Teams Put Bridges to the Test in Finals

Students across the country rose to the challenge and designed a broad array of ideas that would help wildlife safely cross I-90. After a series of regional competitions throughout the school year, 34 teams gathered over Memorial Day weekend to put their bridges to the test in the first in-person finals since 2019.

The Student Steel Bridge Competition is a partnership between the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).

“It was so wonderful to see these enthusiastic student engineers back in action,” said AISC Senior Director of Education Christina Harber. “This year was quite different from pre-pandemic competitions because many students who held the institutional knowledge for their teams have graduated since the last in-person finals–in fact, most of the students competing this year were brand-new to the competition. They learned a lot and are excited to participate again next year, and we’re looking forward to seeing what they can do!”

“What an outstanding event–building bridges in every sense of the word,” said Tom Smith, executive director of ASCE. “My thanks and congratulations to AISC, Virginia Tech, and the many volunteers and student competitors who came together to advance technical and professional learning, while making connections that will last a lifetime.”

University of Florida Takes Overall First Place Prize

The team from the University of Florida earned particularly high marks for economy, speedy construction (just over five minutes with a build team of only two people!), efficiency, and stiffness. They also took home the Frank J. Hatfield Ingenuity Award, which goes to the team that shows the most engineering ingenuity in the design and/or construction of their bridge based on the requirements of the competition rules.

The team from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks came in second, followed closely by Lafayette College.

The University of British Columbia took home the Team Engagement Award, which recognizes efforts to foster equity, diversity, and inclusion. The University of Puerto Rico Mayagüez won the Robert E. Shaw, Jr. Spirit of the Competition Award for their outstanding team camaraderie, professionalism, positive work ethic, and respect for their competition peers.

This year, AISC offered a special award for videos that detailed a design’s features as well as the analysis methods a team used to verify that their design meets the structural specifications, the fabrication methods they used to construct their scaled steel bridge, their construction procedures, and the bridge’s overall appeal to the owner. It’s lights, camera, congratulations to the teams from the University of British Columbia, Louisiana State University, and the University of California, Berkeley. Their videos are available at aisc.org/ssbc2022videos.

2023 Competition Takes Place in San Diego

Join us next year at the University of California, San Diego for the 2023 Student Steel Bridge Competition National Final. Visit aisc.org/ssbc for further details. High-resolution images for press use are available at aisc.org/ssbc2022presspics.

SSSBA Offers Free Educational Opportunities for Students

Students with knowledge of innovative solutions to fix our nations 56,000+ structurally deficient bridges are in vital demand.

In response to the impending need for an educated future workforce, the Short Span Steel Bridge Alliance has created free educational opportunities and resources to cover the many aspects of designing, fabricating, and constructing steel bridges. Learn more.