Lakehead's bridge-building team lands at nationals for 15th time in 16 years

THUNDER BAY -- Chris Legg could show you what the bridge he helped build looks like, but then he’d have to kill you.

Well, that might be a little extreme.

But he and his fellow fourth-year civil engineering students plan to remain CIA-level secretive about their project, which has earned the Thunder Bay school entry into the National Steel Bridge Competition in May in Provost, Utah.

It’s the third straight year an LU team advanced to nationals, the 15th time in 16 years they’ve accomplished the feat.

The bridge build comes with specific parameters.

It’s got to be about 20 feet long and has to fit within a five-foot by five-foot space, with further restrictions on the bridge’s overall depth.

Legg thinks he knows what makes his bridge a great span.

“Simple geometry,” the team captain said on Thursday.

“It goes together quick and it’s also pretty strong. And compared to the other bridges we competed against (at regionals), it’s fairly light weight.”

To test the bridge’s ability, the team’s structure will face six different load cases, the exact specifications of which they won’t know until the morning of the competition.

“There’s always one that’s 1,500 pounds right in the middle, and then another 1,000 pounds somewhere in one of six other spots,” Legg said.

Assistant professor Sam Salem said several factors are considered by the competition judges.

This includes the speed of construction, the efficiency of the structure and even the cost.

Remarkably his students have managed to come up with something new each year, even managing to win the national contest in 2011.

“Every year the competition rules and specifications is different” Salem said. “There are different aspects, so that’s the challenge. Every year the bridge team has to come up with a new product, that was different from last year.

It’s as tough a challenge as the students are likely face during their time at Lakehead University, he added.

“It puts a lot of stress on the teams participating because you’re judged not only on one factor. You’re judged on seven categories.”

Other members of the team include Brad McDonald, Brad DesRochers, Nick Wegher and Curtis Moss. They also received technologist support from Conrad Hagstrom and Kailash Bhatia.