Pedestrian bridge mission trip wins statewide Engineering Excellence Award
Lacey Klotz |
The American Council of Engineering Companies of Tennessee recently named HDR-ICA Engineering and Lipscomb University’s Honduras Outreach, Inc. pedestrian bridge mission trip project as Grand Award Winner in its small projects category at the 25th Annual Engineering Excellence Awards on March 8.
From March to August 2015, students, faculty and staff from Lipscomb’s Raymond B. Jones College of Engineering and the Peugeot Center for 
Engineering Service in Developing Communities teamed up with HOI and HDR-ICA to design, build and install a pedestrian bridge in San Esteban, Honduras.
The bridge was built to connect the Hope Middle School and Aldersgate Elementary School, which are located on opposite sides of a busy highway and provides academic and athletic opportunities to more than 30 villages.
Hundreds of engineers, business and civic leaders, as well as state, city and county officials from across Tennessee attended the awards banquet in Franklin, Tennessee.
“It is an honor for Lipscomb’s College of Engineering to be recognized with HDR-ICA as significant members of the engineering community in Nashville and Middle Tennessee,” said Fort Gwinn, associate dean and professor in Lipscomb’s Raymond B. Jones College of Engineering. “Receiving this award is a validation of the humanitarian emphasis that has become such an important part of Lipscomb Engineering, and having the chance to partner with other engineering firms such as HDR-ICA to give back to others has been a very rewarding experience for all parties involved.”
As part of Lipscomb’s engineering missions program conducted through the Peugeot Center, Lipscomb students worked to assemble the frame of the bridge on campus before sending three teams of students, faculty and professionals to San Esteban, Honduras, to first survey the site, then to prep the site and pour the foundation, and finally to install the existing bridge.
HDR-ICA provided professional engineering leadership and financial support and Healing Hands International, a nonprofit organization in Nashville, helped to ship the materials from Tennessee to Honduras.
Today, the 104-foot-long, single-span Pratt truss pedestrian bridge provides a safe crossing option for Honduran students and their families.
Known as the “voice of Tennessee engineering companies,” the ACEC of Tennessee’s Engineering Excellence Awards competition recognizes engineering firms for projects that demonstrate a high degree of achievement, value and ingenuity.
Twenty-four projects were entered from 19 Tennessee member firms and 11 were honored in the following categories such as transportation; energy; environmental; industrial and manufacturing process; structural systems; surveying and mapping technology; water and stormwater; and water resources.
The Engineering Excellence Awards provide firms an opportunity to obtain statewide and regional recognition, while showcasing their talent and expertise.
For more information about Lipscomb’s Raymond B. Jones College of Engineering visit: engineering.lipscomb.edu.