The National Steel Bridge Alliance (NSBA) is now accepting entries for the 2016 Prize Bridge Competition. The competition, held every other year, honors the most outstanding and innovative steel bridges constructed in the U.S. The winners will be announced at the 2016 World Steel Bridge Symposium (WSBS), which will be co-located with NASCC: The Steel Conference in Orlando, Fla., April 13-15 at the Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center. Entries are due by December 14, 2015 and must be submitted online at www.steelbridges.org/PrizeBridge.
NSBA’s Prize Bridge Competition began in 1928 and is the oldest, most prestigious awards program of its kind in the steel design and construction industry. Winners are selected to receive either a Prize Bridge Award or a Merit Award in various categories. All of the award-winning bridges will be featured in MSC. Designers of the winning Prize Bridge entries will be presented with plaques and recognized during the 2016 WSBS in Orlando. Owners of the winning Prize Bridge entries will be presented with plaques and honored at a banquet dinner during the 2016 AASHTO Subcommittee on Bridges and Structures.
To qualify for the competition, all bridges must be constructed of structural steel and located in the U.S. (defined as the 50 states, the District of Columbia and all U.S. territories). Eligible structures are required to have been completed and opened to traffic between May 1, 2013 and September 30, 2015.
An independent panel of industry professionals will judge entries on the following criteria: innovation, aesthetics, design and engineering solutions. Quality of submitted presentations, though not a criterion, is important. Entries may be judged in more than one category, but each entry can only receive one award.
The award categories are:
- Major Span: One or more spans greater than or equal to 400 ft
- Long Span: Longest span equal to or greater than 250 ft but less than 400 ft
- Medium Span: Longest span equal to or greater than 140 ft but less than 250 ft
- Short Span: No single span greater than 140 ft
- Movable Span
- Reconstructed: Having undergone major reconstruction, rehabilitation, or widening
In addition, NSBA will offer special recognition to one project that best exemplifies Accelerated Bridge Construction and one project that best exemplifies a full range of sustainable attributes.
For more information about the competition and to enter your steel bridge project, please visit www.steelbridges.org/PrizeBridge.