American Institute of Steel Construction/National
Steel Bridge Alliance
Most Beautiful Bridge Award
Special Award: Special Purpose Bridges

These awards honor significant and innovative steel bridges con-structed within the U.S. Awards are presented in categories including: long span; long intermediate; short intermediate; short span; movable span; railroad; and special purpose

Dennis Nottingham, Alan Christopherson, Kenton Braun, Dempsey Thieman

These innovative bridges saved the owner $20 million (a savings of 200 percent) over the cost of elevated bridges for the crossing of two river channels in a flood plain nearly two miles wide. Extreme environmental conditions, design vehicle weights approaching four million pounds, impact loading from river ice five feet thick and discontinuous permafrost soil conditions posed interesting and unusual design and construction challenges. The strength, resiliency and construction flexibility of welded steel were keys to a cost-effective solution for this project.