Innovative Bridge Solutions: ASCE Student Steel Bridge Competition; Shifting Sands: How New England’s Coastal Communities Battle Climate Change

Executive Summary The capstone project and research paper both explore how communities respond to structural and environmental challenges—one through engineering design and the other through social analysis. The steel bridge project focused on designing and fabricating a steel bridge for competition based on the Skunk River Trail in Iowa, while the research paper examined how New England coastal towns react to the threat of erosion. Though the subjects differ, both projects illustrate the balance between technical goals and real-world constraints, such as time, funding, materials, stakeholder input, and long-term impact. Both projects examine how large-scale civil engineering projects interact with the environment around them – from a theoretical perspective and real-world examples. The challenges of the steel bridge competition were put in place to simulate the challenges of a real pedestrian bridge. These constraints are similar to the constraints of the places and projects in New England discussed by the research paper. Our capstone team designed and fabricated a steel bridge to compete in the 2025 ASCE Student Steel Bridge Competition. The bridge was designed to fit competition requirements and to model improvements for the Skunk River Trail. The team optimized structural performance, constructability, and aesthetics through iterative modeling and analysis in Revit and RAM Elements. After completing the model, steel was ordered, and the bridge was fabricated by the team. The fabrication process included welding, cutting, bolt-hole drilling, grinding, and painting. The bridge was tested under an oscillating 2500 lb load in the UVA structures laboratory. Alongside technical objectives, the team prioritized reviving the UVA Steel Bridge Team by recruiting underclassmen, structuring leadership roles, and holding workshops. The report includes detailed drawings, design evolution, and compliance documentation with AISC and ASCE competition standards. Our team was successful in constructing the bridge and competing in the ASCE Regional Symposium at the end of March 2025. Although the bridge was disqualified due to slightly overtime construction, the bridge performed well under load tests, and the competition provided valuable insights for future years. Future teams will look to build a lighter bridge with fewer connections and smaller members. Our team satisfied its goals of constructing the bridge, attending competition, and building a strong foundation of the UVA Steel Bridge Club for the future. This research investigates the effects of coastal erosion on coastal communities in New England, and how these communities are responding to erosion. The research question this paper discusses is: How are coastal resort communities in New England competing to protect their futures in anticipation of accelerating coastal erosion? Two specific locations were analyzed: Block Island, Rhode Island, and Cape Cod, Massachusetts. This paper discusses the beach replenishment methods each community uses to protect their shoreline. An explicit STS framework is not employed in this paper. The two locations are compared and contrasted via stakeholders and participants. This comparison provides an understanding of the challenges and decision-making processes surrounding coastal protection. The findings suggest that rather than directly competing, communities operate independently, constrained by local priorities, stakeholder pressures, and limited resources. While beach replenishment remains a common strategy, it is implemented inconsistently, often in response to crises rather than through long-term, cooperative planning. This research is important because it demonstrates how decentralized responses and stakeholder dynamics shape environmental and policy decisions. It also provides valuable insights for engineers, policymakers, and community leaders seeking to implement more sustainable and coordinated coastal management strategies in the face of climate change. Working on the capstone project and research paper simultaneously provided a broader perspective on the role of civil engineering in society. The capstone project offered hands-on experience with design, analysis, and fabrication under specific technical and logistical constraints. In contrast, writing the research paper highlighted how similar constraints—such as funding, stakeholder interests, and long-term impacts—shape decision-making in real-world environmental projects. Combining these experiences illustrated that engineering solutions do not exist in a vacuum; they are deeply influenced by social, political, and economic factors. This dual perspective reinforced the importance of adaptability, communication, and systems thinking in engineering practice.