We hope you’ve been following the live Webcam progress on construction of the Jesup South Bridge in Buchanan County, Iowa over the past couple of months. The existing bridge was built in 1947, had a sufficiency rating of less than 50, and was only 22-ft. wide—not nearly wide enough to handle modern-day farm equipment and increased traffic demand on one of the county’s busiest roads.

Iowa County Engineer Brian Keierleber, P.E. (left, shown with Matt Gomez of Gerdau), designed the new bridge with a free, easy-to-use web-based tool called eSPAN140. Brian typed in the specifications for his project—including bridge span length, number of striped traffic lanes, roadway and width and skew angle—and received a steel bridge design solution in less than five minutes. Construction began in late August, and a live Webcam has been recording the progress since then. The new bridge will be dedicated on November 1, 2013. The festivities begin at noon with a complimentary lunch provided by Buchanan County, Iowa and AZZ Galvanizing, and a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 1:00 PM CT. The ribbon-cutting ceremony will feature remarks by Iowa Senator Brian Schoenjahn; Mayor of Jesup Dick Quackenbush; Buchanan County Board of Supervisors Chairman Ralph Kremer, and others. See the event schedule here.

The new bridge is 40-ft. wide and features galvanized steel rolled beams and galvanized rebar. Many of the materials were provided by partnering companies that wanted to demonstrate the benefits of using eSPAN140 to county engineers in Iowa and across the country. The successful project is a win for these companies, but the big winners are the residents of Buchanan County, who now have a new bridge to meet their traffic needs; and Brian Keierleber, who gained significant time and cost efficiencies by using eSPAN140.

For more information about the project, click here.

For information on the benefits of eSPAN140 for your county bridges, contact Dan Snyder at the Short Span Steel Bridge Alliance at dsnyder@steel.org.