CE 105

Intro to Engineering Profession

Date of Submission: March 15, 2019
Skybridge over Lincoln Way project
Written by: Alex Stein, Jonathan Gannon, Tyler Kumsher
Task:
One of the issues that ISU students using Buchanan Hall complain about is that they have to

cross the intersection several times during a day and it would be better to build a pedestrian sky-

bridge over this street to eliminate any risk of accidents in that crowded intersection (especially

at rush hour periods). Your job is to design a pedestrian sky-bridge over the Lincoln Way. In this

project you must address:

1. Design of your sky-bridge (a sketch that shows what the final structure looks like)

2. What type of material you would want to use to build it (e.g., concrete over steel, etc.)

3. Your calculation of the amount of required materials

Introduction:
At the beginning of the project, our group first came to the crossroads of what kind of

bridge we wanted to build. The two we decided between was either an indoor bridge or an

outdoor bridge. The reasoning for the indoor bridge is that it would be heated in the winter, and

air-conditioned in the summer to give students a break from the weather in Ames. It could also

have some tables or a few benches inside for students to study, or just take in the view of Lincoln

way. The ultimate reason we didn’t go with this solution was the huge cost and plus how small

the sky bridge is. We then decided that our sky bridge would have to be an outdoor one. It is

cheaper, easier to maintain, and a lot less complex.

Why a sky bridge is needed:

 Through our research, the Iowa Department of Transportation states that around 15,700

cars cross Lincoln Way a day in the area we are expecting to build the sky bridge. Buchanan Hall

was the first dorm to be built across the street in 1964 holding 409 students. At this time there

wasn’t as much traffic as the university because in 1962 they broke the 10,000 student milestone,

and compare that to fall 2018 enrollment of 35,000 students, it’s not even close. Then in 2016,

Geoffrey Hall was opened to 770 new students that would inhabit it each semester. Over a

thousand students now live across the street and need to cross every day in order to get to their

classes, and these numbers don’t even include fraternities and sororities. The high traffic in the

area, the amount of students and the safety liability the university now has are all reasons for

why a sky bridge is needed. Our group was also considering attaching the sky bridge to Geoffrey

hall, but we later scrapped this idea again due to costs and the distance from the road.

Land Surveying:
Our group estimated using Google Earth’s measuring tool

that our bridge should be around 60-65 meters (~200 ft) in length.

The topography of the land we found through the Iowa Geographic

Map Server also tells us in the area we are looking to build, the land

is relatively level when crossing the street. Also on the map, we can

see there are two bus stops that are relatively near each other. We

decided to put the sky bridge because of this to the left of the intersection because we didn’t want

to disturb the bus routes and cause negative externalities. Our group tried to find soil samples

using the Iowa Geographic Map server but we had no clue as to what the data from the NRCS
meant. We tried to research what each data point was, but was unsuccessful and our lack of

knowledge led us to having no useful data for soils.

Design:
We decided to keep the design of the project simple to reduce the price of the sky bridge

and the time needed to construct it. Designing a bridge with an enclosure doesn’t make much

sense because students will be exposed to the elements getting to and from the bridge. We

decided to use a ramp system on both sides of the bridge to ensure that it is accessible to people

who can’t travel up stairs. Originally we planned to use a straight ramp but found that it would

not be reasonable because, in order to comply with ADA, the ramp would have to have a

horizontal length of 204 feet. This is why we altered our plan and decided to use a spiral ramp

instead. We decided against an elevator system because it would be too expensive and also be

the cause for much more maintenance. Since concrete doesn’t have a good tensile strength we

created a design that had a vertical support in the middle of the bridge to shorten the span and

alleviate some of the tensile force. We made sure that this support would be narrow enough to fit

in the median of the road so it wouldn’t disrupt traffic flow. Our design materials are concrete
and steel. We will use cast in place concrete for the foundation and the main structure of our sky

bridge. The steel will be used in the form of rebar and hand railings.
Contractor:
For our contractor, we decided to use Story Construction Company. They are a local

company and they have a tremendous amount of experience working on campus. Some of the

projects that they have been involved in on campus are:

● Llyod Veterinary Medicine Center

● Frederiksen Court expansion

● Renovation of Willow Hall

● Reiman Gardens Conservatory

Since they are a local business they will be more affordable because they won’t have to travel far

or transport their equipment very far, to work on the project.

At the Gerdin construction site our group

found the Schnabel Foundation Company which

specializes in foundations.This company could

be one of the contractors that Story uses to

complete their projects, but because of lack of

information pertaining to the project, we have

no way of knowing.

Challenges:
There are many challenges associated with the design and construction of the sky bridge.

One of the main challenges is that this project is located on campus and campus is a really busy

place when students are here. We are adjusting for this challenge by attempting to keep as much
construction as possible scheduled for the summer months when students are gone. Another

challenge with this project is that Lincoln way is a very busy street and construction can interfere

with car traffic. We will have to plan a route to redirect cars in the possibility of a road closure.

An additional challenge we face is approval from the City of Ames. They will have to approve

the project before we can start building. This means we will have to be flexible to meet their

demands in some cases.

Accessibility to the sky bridge is important and we will have to plan to comply with the

Americans with Disabilities Act, which means that we will have to have a ramp slope no greater

than 1:12. This caused us to have to alter our design because having a height of 17 feet would

require a ramp with a horizontal distance of 204 feet. This seemed too unreasonable to us, so we

decided to use a spiral ramp instead.

Another challenge for us is trying to figure out what is beneath where we want to build

our skybridge. Since our group is not a contracting company, nor meets the standards and

qualifications in order to get utility information, we cannot factor in the difficulty or get the

information of what’s underneath the site in the project. An ongoing challenge is that the sky

bridge would require routine maintenance in order to ensure proper safety.

The last challenge for our group is that we have to work with the city of Ames in order to

work around their ongoing project, using 70,000 dollars to add trees to the median of Lincoln

Way as part of their initiative to make Ames look nicer to visitors. We would either have to

modify our skybridge plans or they would have to modify their median project, in order to work

together to get to a common goal.

Costs:
The cost of our sky bridge is unknown, because there isn’t a lot of public information

about the prices, but we can look at sky bridges that have already been built to get an idea of the

cost. The U.S. Bank Stadium Skybridge has an uncovered design, like ours, and cost $5.1 million

to build. It is also much bigger than ours, which means ours would be much cheaper. The U.S

Bank Stadium Skybridge is 25 feet tall and 345 feet long and has 4 elevators. Our design is 17

feet tall and 65 feet long and doesn’t have any elevators. The Pedestrian and Bike Center

estimates the cost of a steel bridge to be between $150-$250 per square foot. Covered sky

bridges tend to be much more expensive. The Davenport Skybridge is 50 feet tall and 600 feet

long, covered, and it costs $7.4 million.

Our group tried to use the data from the skybridge from Hoover Hall to Howe Hall, and

Beyer Hall to State Gym, but were unable to find the numbers for these skybridges as when they

were built the money cost was lumped together with the building itself, which would be hard to

dissect in order to get a real cost.

Projected Timeline:
For this project we estimated that the design of the project would take about three

months. We decided that it would be best to start the design of the bridge in December, so our

construction crew could start in early March. Starting in March and finishing in November, our

goal would be to have the construction of this bridge take nine months. The our reasoning for

this scheduling is to have the construction take place when temperatures are more adequate, and
there are less students students on campus in the summer, which would help with traffic re-

routing.

Disciplines of CE Involved:
The disciplines of Civil Engineering involved in this project are geotechnical,

transportation, construction, and structural. The Geotechnical Engineer will take soil samples and

determine if the bearing capacity of the soil is suitable to support the skywalk that will be built

there. The discipline of transportation for this project will need to be considered as well. This

skywalk is going to be built over a very busy roadway, and traffic may need to be rerouted at

some point in the construction. Another discipline of Civil Engineering involved in this project is

construction. Because of the tricky location of this project, the construction of this bridge will

need to be done in a timely and strategic manner. The design engineer will work on calculating

the maximum possible load that this skywalk may endure, and then they will aim for a design

that is the strongest and lightest as possible.

Benefits:
Despite the many challenges in building a skywalk over Lincoln Way, there are many

rewarding benefits. It will be much safer for Iowa State students and Ames residents to cross

over this busy intersection. The flow of traffic will be improved, as cars will need to stop for less

pedestrians. Also, the architectural design of this skywalk will be attractive to the eye for people
entering campus, and it will show off the great Civil Engineering program we have here at Iowa

State!

Impacts:
Constructing this beautiful skywalk may come at the cost of removing some trees that

would be in the way at the construction site. The traffic may be interrupted at times due to the

construction, which is an inconvenience for the people who drive down Lincoln Way daily. This

skywalk will also require more maintenance and upkeep than a traditional crosswalk would.

Sources:
https://www.teachengineering.org/lessons/view/cub_brid_lesson02
http://iowadot.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=0cce99afb78e4d3b9b24f8263
717f910
http://iowadot.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Viewer/index.html?appid=a29e44be6e314799b612335342a
13f62
Google Maps & Earth
http://www.cityofames.org/home/showdocument?id=41594
https://www.teachengineering.org/lessons/view/cub_brid_lesson05
http://www.pedbikeinfo.org/cms/downloads/Countermeasure%20Costs_Report_Nov2013.pdf
https://www.minnpost.com/minnesota-blog-cabin/2015/04/unnecessary-pedestrian-bridge-going-
cost-6-million-public-money/
https://www.discountramps.com/wheelchair-ramp-length/a/B20/