Iowa State University Alumni Association| online edition | winter 2004

 


WINTER 2004
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Cover Story:
>>Bridges: Designing, Building, Preserving

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Celebrating 125 Years

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WALK THIS WAY

Drivers heading south into downtown Des Moines are being greeted by a spiffy new bridge over the interstate near the Botanical Center.

Bright blue and shaped like a basket handle, the pedestrian bridge is the first of three arched bridges to be constructed as part of the $426 million I-235 construction project. The other two will be constructed in 2004 and 2005.

The steel arch bridge may have been a surprise to some motorists who drove on the highway on a Friday night last July – when there was no bridge. By Monday, the bridge’s arch was complete, taking less than 15 hours to lift into place.

The three pedestrian bridges will be unique to Iowa, although bridges of this style have been constructed in other states.

Iowa Staters Richard Schoene (’76), Marty Jorgensen (’95), and Robert Cramer (’90) of Cramer and Associates; Kevin Merryman (’95), Bob Younie (’71), Marty Sankey (’82), Norm McDonald (’80), Ahmad Abu-Hawash (’93), and Ron Meyer (’85, ’88)
of the Iowa Department of Transportation; and Mike LaViolette (’90, ’94) of HNTB are all involved in the project. Cost to construct the 262-foot bridge is estimated at slightly more than $2 million.

Read on | Stiff Competition