MoDOT bridge-building contest awards engineering scholarships

The Missouri Department of Transportation's TRAC team is sponsoring its first annual bridge-building competition. Thirty-four high school juniors and seniors from nine schools, including those of Jackson and Sikeston, Mo., will enter their best bridge designs. TRAC's mission is to promote careers in transportation and civil engineering to students.

Testing to determine each bridge's maximum load will be performed at 9 a.m. Saturday at MoDOT's Southeast District office in Sikeston, 2675 N. Main St., with an awards presentation planned for 4 p.m.

Given 20 pieces of balsa wood, a bottle of glue, a spool of thread and size specifications, students were challenged to build the sturdiest bridge possible using their own design. As a result, students learn some of the factors engineers must take into consideration when designing a bridge.

The student engineers compete for scholarship opportunities.

MoDOT's TRAC team partnered with the University of Missouri-Rolla and Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, each offering a $1,000 engineering scholarship. Southeast Missouri State University is offering a $300 pre-engineering scholarship.

For more information, call transportation project designer Jason Williams at (573) 472-5293, or traffic engineer Craig Compas at (573) 472-5310.