International Bridge Conference (IBC) 2025

Overview

Join us for the International Bridge Conference (IBC) on July 14-16 in Pittsburgh, PA at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. The International Bridge Conference® (IBC) is the pre-eminent arena for the bridge industry in North & South America, Europe, Australia, Asia and Africa.

Presented by the Engineers’ Society of Western Pennsylvania, the IBC annually attracts over 1,000 bridge owners and engineers, senior policy makers, government officials, bridge designers, construction executives, and suppliers from throughout the United States and abroad.

The IBC is planned by an all-volunteer group and provides continuing education and networking opportunities to members of all facets of the bridge industry.

Featured Speakers

IBC 25-29: Reprofiling of An Existing Cable Stayed Bridge – US 17/SR 404 SPUR BRIDGE featuring Meng Sun, P.E., S.E., Parsons Transportation Group, Denver, CO; Robert Orsa, Parsons Transportation Group, Denver, CO; Greg Shafer, Parsons Transportation Group, Baltimore, MD; Kira Hamilton, Parsons Transportation Group, Denver, CO; Gernot Komar, Denver, CO

• The US 17/SR 404 Spur Bridge (Talmadge Memorial Bridge), a pivotal cable-stayed structure connecting Savannah and Hutchinson Island, is undergoing a significant $189-million maintenance and upgrade project. Originally completed in 1991, the bridge currently features a 1,100-ft main span carrying State Route 404 and US 17, with a 185-ft clearance over the Savannah River, which restricts the Port of Savannah’s ability to accommodate the largest modern container ships. The proposed solution is to raise the bridge profile by shortening the stay cable so that the bridge air draft reaches 206 ft.

IBC 25-45: Design and Construction of 3-Tower 4-Span Cable-stayed Mississippi River Bridge featuring Martin Furrer, P.E., S.E., Parsons, Chicago, IL; Greg Hasbrouck, Parsons, Chicago, IL; Vincent Gastoni, Parsons, Minneapolis, MN; Mitch Johnson, Ames Corporation, Burnsville, MN; Stacy McMillan, Missouri DOT, Jefferson City, MO

• Missouri and Illinois DOTs looked to replace the Mississippi river crossing at Chester, a narrow truss at end of its useful life, using a best-value design-build procurement method.
• Major site challenges:
  • very large vessel allision loads for any pier located within navigable waters,
  • Coast Guard requires 800 ft main with 500 ft auxiliary or single 1050 ft navigational channel,
  • high seismic demands (proximity to New Madrid Fault) and large variations in depth to rock across the river,
  • Illinois bank is occupied by state route and wide Union Pacific railroad mainline ROW,
  • site is located near airport limiting structure height,
  • significant river level fluctuations, impacting ability to build bridge in about 2 years.
  Challenges are met by a four-span, three-tower cable-stayed bridge solution with two 885 ft main spans. A reinforced concrete deck of full depth modular panels with an overlay is supported by transverse steel floor beams and longitudinal steel edge girders. Stay-cables connect to exterior of edge girders at 45 ft intervals and anchored in towers with steel anchor boxes. The three towers are founded on either driven pipe piles or drilled shafts and consist of two free-standing, vertical legs each.

IBC 25-46: Rebuilding the Lynchpin of American Commerce – the new I-70 Rocheport Bridge featuring Greg Hasbrouck, Parsons, Chicago, IL

• Interstate 70 is an artery of commerce serving the heart of national and regional distribution and commodity flows connecting Missouri’s largest cities. Each year, approximately 100 million tons of freight, worth more than $154 billion, is carried across I-70 in Missouri. Carrying 12.5 million vehicles per year, including over 3.6 million freight trucks travelling across the United States, the I-70 Bridge over the Missouri River at Rocheport has been called the “lynchpin of America.”

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