Broadway Bridge earns Eugene C. Figg, Jr. Medal

A Garver-led project was named one of the year’s top achievements in bridge engineering at the International Bridge Conference in National Harbor, Maryland. The Eugene C. Figg, Jr. Medal for Signature Bridges was presented by the Engineers' Society of Western Pennsylvania to the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department for the Broadway Bridge, designed by Garver and sub-consultant HNTB, during last week’s conference. The medal is given annually to a single recent outstanding achievement for bridge engineering, which is considered an icon to the community for which it was designed.

The Broadway Bridge joins projects from Bolivia, China, France, Vietnam, as well as the United States, to have been recognized for this prestigious award since 2002.

“Receiving the Eugene Figg Medal is a significant accomplishment and validates all the hard work of the Garver design team,” said Garver Project Manager John Ruddell. “The Broadway Bridge serves as an iconic downtown landmark for the two cities we've called home, and we were honored to play a role in its design."

Garver provided traffic analysis and design services for the roadway approaches and replacement bridge, which spans the Arkansas River connecting the downtowns of Little Rock and North Little Rock. The new structure, designed for cost effectiveness and to minimize closure time, consists of twin 448-foot basket-handle network tied arches and four traffic lanes to accommodate up to 24,000 vehicles per day.

The bridge opened to traffic in March 2017, five months after closure of the old bridge, reopening a main artery through the state’s largest metropolitan area. The twin-arch design replaced the outdated bridge that had been in use since 1923 and deemed structurally deficient.

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