Burgess & Niple (B&N) served as lead consultant for the development of preliminary and final design plans and specifications; and construction services for the Discovery Bridge in downtown Columbus, Ohio. B&N, teamed with H2L2-Architects/Planners, and Leonhardt, Andra und Partner, utilized state-of-the-art structural technology, saving an estimated $3 million when compared to building a replica of the existing bridge.
Noteworthy events during this historic bridge replacement process include:
- Development of a community input process into the bridge design. This process eliminated the need for an alternative bridge design as normally required by FHWA, yielding a more cost-effective structure.
- Innovative workshop process to evaluate and eliminate all but one of the more than 110 possible structures.
The final 660-foot, five-span, post-tensioned, plate-arched girder Discovery Bridge has won numerous awards, including:
- 1992 City Beautiful Award, Greater Columbus Convention and Visitors Bureau
- 1992 Excellence in Highway Design Award, Federal Highway Administration
- 1992 Concrete Bridge Award of Excellence, Portland Cement Association
- 1993 Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement Award, Ohio Council ASCE
- 1993 Henry Overman Award, Ohio Department of Transportation
- 1993 Engineering Excellence Honor Award, American Consulting Engineers Council
- 1993 Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement finalist, American Society of Civil Engineers
- 1993 Engineering Excellence Honor Award, Ohio Association of Consulting Engineers.
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