Tag Archive for: bridge engineering process

Proper bridge construction management is necessary to keep a project organized and completed within the budget and schedule. However, managing such a large project such as a bridge’s construction may seem daunting, so we’ve listed some of the best practices for maximizing your chance of success.

Determine the Scope of the Project

Like in any other industry, proper management is essential to a construction project’s success. What’s the best way to pre-plan your project and effectively manage it? Well, a great solution is by working with key stakeholders to determine an accurate scope of the project.

Understanding the scope is one of the first steps in the successful management of bridge construction. This means taking the time to create a thorough breakdown of what’s required for the project such as:

  • Identifying what is within or out of scope.
  • Noting the work required, the team performing the work, and the schedule of its completion.
  • Include any important elements that may impact the outcome.
  • Determining the constraints that might limit or negatively impact the outcome of the project such as resources, procurement issues, timing, etc.

Once you work out the scope, you can now move on to planning project decisions such as deck construction, railing criteria, live loads, etc.

Start Creating Plans and Strategies Early

Your planning process is essentially how you will achieve the goals set out within the scope. The reality is that while a project of the highest quality scope, at the lowest price, done in the least amount of time is ideal, it is difficult to achieve. Hence, a strategy-based process is necessary to achieve your overall objective.

Understanding your project’s success metrics is key to streamlining the decision-making process. In other words, determine project components such as feasibility, procurement, construction, close-out, and more to effectively work towards accomplishing the goal. In addition, as the project progresses you should continually refer to your detailed scope to determine if there are any changes and how they will impact the project. Recognizing and implementing adjustments in a timely manner will help reduce delays and risks.

This means start planning long before the actual construction begins, and continue revising until the end of the project. The design, pre-construction, and procurement stages of a construction project all require meticulous planning — and may need to be revised as the project progresses.

A properly planned out and scheduled project is a well-managed and successful bridge project.

Ensure Quality Construction

The quality of the construction is a big part of its success and reflects your skills in bridge management. Thus, in your planning process, you want to consider options that will create lasting effects. Consider utilizing durability solutions such as special enhancement and treatments. Galvanized or weathered steel is a popular option to slow the process of deterioration.

Not only should you be deciding what materials and methods to use, but who the manufacturer should be. Supply chain management helps you stay organized and save money. This means careful management of suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, contractors, and designers.

Pay attention to the order and delivery of materials on-site, the selection of contractors, their involvement in design and planning, and methods used to reduce invoice and transaction costs. In addition, reinforce collaborative methods with those involved in the project to keep the system flowing. This will encourage proper accountability, support, and incentives from supply chain partners.

Starting a project with these practices in mind minimizes disputes and delays. Not to mention, it improves safety and business practices and develops better project relationships.

Trust us to Build your Bridge

Our 80+ years working with various companies all across the world has provided us with the skills and experience needed for even the most challenging projects. We are confident that our engineering and manufacturing expertise will fit the needs of your project. Contact us on our website to learn more about how you can collaborate with us or fill out our exclusive BridgeScope tool for a quick quote.

Bridges play a key role in our lives by connecting our communities, promoting commerce travels, and contributing to our country’s economic development. But who designs these bridges and what does a bridge engineer do?

Bridge Engineers

Bridge Engineers are civil engineers responsible for designing and building bridges and other highway-related structures. Typical tasks for bridge engineers include designing and maintaining bridge structures, minimizing environmental impact, and supervising the fabrication process. As well as completing site investigations, data collection, identifying environmental risks, analyzing manufacturing processes, supervising construction, and more.

Although the exact duties of a bridge engineer may differ, it’s safe to say they’ll always play a critical role in any bridge construction project.

Designing and maintaining a bridge is no easy task. That’s why bridge engineers are required to have skills such as analytical thinking, leadership, supervisory skills, organization, and creativity. Not to mention, time management and budgeting skills which are essential for projects with restricted time or resources.

Bridge Engineering: It’s All About The Details

Meetings & Details

Naturally, the first part of any construction project is understanding the full scope. This meeting typically covers topics and details such as bridge series and styles, special enhancements or treatments, railing criteria, etc. This will help the bridge engineer to draw up some preliminary sketches of the bridge’s general framing plan, bridge geometry, and basic construction.

These designs help illustrate the bridge and prepare the project for its next step.

Digital Renderings

One of the most powerful tools for bridge engineers to utilize is technology. Bridge engineers will often use computers to create virtual models to assist in visualizing a project. This helps the team picture the visual impacts of the bridge to any given site as well as the aesthetic qualities. Our bridge engineers are able to model your proposed bridge over a digital terrain model or incorporate it into photos of your existing site.

This aspect is extremely useful, especially if a construction project requires models to help stakeholders buy-in or make a sale.

Final Process

Once a commitment has been made, the design process officially begins and a team is assigned. The project engineer analyzes the proposed bridge including the specified design loads and appropriate load factors, along with applying numerous code checks. Eventually, the bridge engineer begins to sketch the design details and information for the designer. These sketches convey all the information previously discussed and finalized.

The engineer will also markup the general notes and list the design assumptions and pertinent bridge data onto the title sheet.

Part of this process involves reviewing the design calculations and construction plans to verify the scope and specifications. Also checked is the plan content to ensure it reflects the engineer’s design intent and that no conflicts exist and that no omissions have occurred. The final step before submittal is usually the application of the Professional Engineer’s seal and signature.

Designed for Success at U.S. Bridge

At U.S. Bridge, we’ve been engineering and building bridges for over 80 years. Our engineers have the skills and experience to build bridges in many different styles and sizes to fit the needs of your project. Find out more about how U.S. Bridge has everything you need to make your project a success.

Contact us for a free quote or check our exclusive Bridge Scope tool to start building your project today.

Bridge Engineering

No one wants to make something twice. That’s why it’s so important to build it to perfection the first time, especially if it’s something time-consuming and expensive such as a bridge. With extensive experience in bridge engineering, bridge construction can be effortless and efficient.

At U.S. Bridge, we’ve been engineering and building bridges for over 80 years. Here’s how our bridge engineering process leads to seamless bridge construction.

The Bridge Engineering Process

Understanding the Problem

There are several different reasons to build a bridge. It could be to connect communities or provide a secure commerce route for heavy trucks. Regardless, the first step for the bridge design team is to understand why the bridge is being built. What problem is it meant to solve?

Once our team of engineers understands this, then they can move forward in designing a bridge that will properly address the reason for the bridge.

Understanding the problem also allows engineers to answer other questions such as where and how. It’s the first step to designing the final product.

Determining the Scope

After knowing more about the problem, our engineers create and compare different solutions to the problem. This includes analyzing what design would work best for the bridge and the pros and cons of each option. Then they also consider other factors like the weight of the materials and how the environment would affect the bridge.

We establish elements like the structural capacity, environmental impact, and constructibility of the bridge. In the final analysis, all of these factors and more are carefully considered to determine the scope of the bridge construction project.

The Actual Design Process

Once the scope of the project has been determined, then our engineers are able to begin the design process. Theories of solutions materialize as we calculate the details on elevation, span lengths, deck widths, vertical clearances, and bridge structure among other logistics.

In addition, we also create virtual models to enable our customers to visualize their project.

This is also the part where we create an initial budget analysis for our clients. These calculations are vital to the bridge design process. Budgets are how we ensure the project is ideal for the bridge owner’s needs before proceeding to the construction phase.

The Bridge Construction Process

Our various manufacturing options provide a solution for various projects and budgets. From timber bridges to prefabricated steel, we design, manufacture, and build them all. Following the decisions finalized during the design phase, we begin the construction process. Our bridge supplies are shipped worldwide and our team is present during construction to guarantee its execution.

With more than 250,000 sq ft of engineering and fabricating facilities including dedicated truss, painting, and post and tube centers, located on a 6-acre campus, we provide the highest level of quality bridge available.

Throughout the entire process, we work directly with our clients and communicate with all members of the project for an effortless process.

Perfect Bridge Engineering with U.S. Bridge

Our bridge engineering expertise makes the bridge construction and design process effortless. Save yourself time and money by partnering with an industry leader in steel bridge design and construction.

U.S. Bridge has completed more than 10,000 bridge projects and has experience working in more than 50 countries. Our team engineers and builds bridges of many different styles and sizes. All of our designs are custom-made to fit the needs of our customers.  Contact us today to receive your free quote!