The Jacques Chaban-Delmas Vertical Lift Bridge project has been awarded the prestigious American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) National 2014 Engineering Excellence – Honor Award. The awards were presented April 29th during the association’s annual Engineering Excellence Awards Gala at Washington, DC’s Grand Hyatt Hotel. Paul Skelton, PE, and Craig Johnson, PE, accepted the award on behalf of H&H, accompanied by client representative, Mathieu Cardin, of EGIS Jean Muller International. The bridge was previously honored with the Diamond Award from ACEC-New York and the Grand National Prize for Engineering from the French Ministry of Ecology. This is the second ACEC National Honor Award that H&H has received in recent years. In 2007, the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bascule Bridge was honored.

H&H provided conceptual design, detailed final design, and construction support and supervision for the lift bridge mechanization and operating systems, working in conjunction with the Vinci Group, the Design-Build Contractor, and the Design Consortium of EGIS Jean Muller International; Michel Virlogeux; and Lavigne-Cheron Architects. The design resulted in a highly efficient system that allowed for aesthetically pleasing, bridge elements and towers.

The lift span has a symmetric cross section and carries four traffic lanes—two monorail tracks and two outboard sidewalk/bikeways. Four independent pylon towers, one at each corner of the lift span, will allow a counterweight (a quarter of the total lift span weight) to travel vertically inside each pylon. Operation of the lift span is achieved via high strength wire ropes passing over sheaves that connect the lift span to the counterweights. The bridge spans approximately 383 feet long, with an out-to-out width of approximately 141 feet, and a design lift height of 164 feet.

For more information on the Jacques Chaban-Delmas project, click here.

The Engineering Excellence Awards competition celebrates the most outstanding project achievements in the field of engineering around the world. Projects are judged based on originality, innovation, value to the public and the engineering profession, complexity, social and economic considerations, sustainability, and exceeding client needs.