West Point Bridge Contest
This is the cheapest working bridge that I created for this contest. To make this bridge it would cost $177,165.63 and places me 701 out of 3,041 in the nation. Through this project I learned how the compression and tension forces are influenced by the size and type of material being used to make the bridge. The West Point Bridge program provides 3 different types of metal to work with that can be placed as solid bars or hallow tubes. After struggling to decrease the cost of my bridge I was told that tubes on the top arch are cheaper and also give the bridge more support. There is another feature which allows the user to choose how thick the concrete layer of the bridge is; I chose the stronger option because that abled me to use weaker metal across the bottom of the bridge making it cost less. I will continue to make improvements on this design and try to get into the top 40 people and make it to the second round of the contest.