The American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) and the National Steel Bridge Alliance (NSBA) have recently announced the 2024 Prize Bridge Awards—the structural steel industry’s highest design honor for bridges. Eight bridges were recognized across varying categories.
TrueNorth Steel is honored to have been co-awarded the winning project in the Short Span bridge category, with its work on the Grand Forks County Prefabricated Bridge project completed in 2022.
The project was completed in partnership with structural engineering firm KLJ Engineering (Grafton, ND) and general contractor Industrial Builders Inc (West Fargo, ND). TrueNorth Steel served as the fabricator and detailer on this national award-winning bridge project spanning the Goose River near Northwood, ND, about 40 miles southwest of Grand Forks, ND.
“The biggest challenge on this 80-foot vehicular bridge project was the installation conditions—high water levels meant working in soft soil.” Commented, Steve Henley, Director of Bridge Sales at TrueNorth Steel. He continues, “However, since we prefabricated the majority of the bridge—the supporting structure, decking, guiderails—in our West Fargo facility, we could ship it to the site in four pieces, so assembly and installation on site was completed within about eight hours.”
AISC / NSBA qualify bridges to be in the ‘Short Span’ bridge category if no single span is greater than 140 feet. Other bridge categories include ‘Major Span’ (one or more spans are equal or greater than 300 ft), ‘Medium Span’ (longest span is equal or greater than 140 ft, but less than 300 ft), ‘Special Purpose’ bridges, and ‘Rehabilitation’ of existing bridges.
This national award-winning Grand Forks County Prefabricated bridge is one of three main types of bridge offerings that TrueNorth Steel specializes in, falling under the company’s Prefabricated Modular Vehicular Bridges product offering. Other main TrueNorth Steel bridge products include Prefabricated Pedestrian Bridges and Welded Plate Girder (Civil) Bridges, the latter leveraging the knowledge and expertise of TrueNorth Steel’s Structural Steel division.
For more information about TrueNorth Steel’s bridge capabilities, contact our experts at bridge@truenorthsteel.com.