Byline: Juana Jordan
May 14--TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Add Boston to the list of cities Tallahassee-based Figg Engineering has left its signature on.
The American Society of Civil Engineers Wednesday night honored the company with the Outstanding Project and Leaders award for building Boston's Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge, the widest cable-stayed bridge in the world.
The bridge was given the Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement award at an awards dinner in Tysons Corner, Va.
Cable-stayed bridges are held up by bundled steel strands running from a center concrete pylon to the bridge's superstructure. This one spans 183 feet across Boston's Charles River and has 10 lanes of traffic. The first four lanes opened to northbound traffic this past March.
"The entire Figg Team is thrilled to be recognized for our work on this incredible project," said Linda Figg, president of the firm. "We are very appreciative to the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority for the opportunity to design a world-class bridge for the city of Boston. It's great to know that the talented engineers who accomplished this design are here in Tallahassee."
The Zakim Bridge project was chosen from a field of seven finalists and its OCEA award ranks it with other projects including the relocation of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse and the Trans-Alaska Pipeline and the World Trade Center Towers.
Figg submitted plans for the $100-million Zakim Bridge in 1997 and started construction in August of that year. It was dedicated in October 2002 and will be fully operational next year.
The bridge is unique in that it is the first asymmetrical cable-stayed bridge in North America. The back span on one side is longer than the other.
It's asymmetrical in both directions. The bridge, considered a hybrid design, is also the first in the country that uses a combination of steel in the main span and concrete in the back spans.
When it's finished, more than 11,000 motorists will travel on it daily.
"Not only was the city's need for increased capacity met, but the local community has been given a new symbol of civic pride," said ASCE president Patricia Galloway, in a prepared statement. "The Zakim Bridge epitomizes the philosophy of form following function, which makes it a civil engineering marvel."
Founded in 1978 by the late Eugene Figg, Figg Engineering became the pioneer in the precasting of segmental bridges. This means that the concrete blocks for the bridge are pre-made and brought to the bridge site and assembled. In 2002, a month after Figg died, ASCE awarded him the Outstanding Projects and Leaders Award.
"That group has designed more segmental concrete bridges (than anyone) in America combined," said Norida Torriente, spokesperson for the ASCE.
The bridges have ranged in length from 40 feet to 1,200 feet, Torriente said.
The Sunshine Skyway in St. Petersburg is one such bridge. It contains the longest concrete span in America at 1,200 feet. It cost $77 million and took four years to build. The Maumee River Bridge in Toledo, Ohio, and expected to be completed in 2006, is another such marvel. It will include four 200-foot-long bulletproof glass panels on the concrete pylon in the middle of the bridge. The panels will reflect light during the day; at night, they will be illuminated by computer-controlled lighting that can change colors.
Figg has designed bridges with a value exceeding $6 billion, according to Cheryl Maze, Figg's director of Lasting Impressions. Currently, it has design and construction projects underway in Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Maine, New Jersey, North Dakota, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
The OPAL awards honor outstanding projects and professional civil engineers for lifelong contributions in the five categories of public works, construction, management, design and education. They were first given out in April 2000.
About Figg Engineering
--Founded: 1978
--Headquarters: Tallahassee
--Employees: More than 100 in offices in Tallahassee, Dallas, Denver, St. Paul, Minn., and Philadelphia
--Other well-known Figg Engineering Designed Bridges: The Blair Stone Road Bridge in Tallahassee, the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in St. Petersburg, the Natchez Trace Parkway Arches near Nashville and Linn Cove Viaduct in North Carolina
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(c) 2004, Tallahassee Democrat, Fla. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
Gale Document Number:CJ118303430