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Pictured left to right: Andrew Cerrito, Dave Aderhold, Michael Kuhns, Quentin Rissler, Jim Stump – PA Turnpike Bridge Group Manager, Kyle Rankin, ABCD Susquehanna Chapter President, Ryan Stauffer
Larson Design Group’s innovative Pennsylvania Turnpike bridge slide project for Road-Con has garnered a 2017-2018 award from the Association for Bridge Construction and Design (ABCD), Susquehanna Chapter. The award recognizes the “Outstanding New or Reconstructed Medium Span Bridge” and was presented to LDG program manager Quentin Rissler of the firm’s Lititz office at the ABCD chapter’s 15th annual dinner recently in Harrisburg.
The 2017 project involved the demolition and reconstruction of a 60-year-old structurally deficient bridge within a 55-hour timeframe using innovative sliding bridge technology designed by LDG. The accelerated bridge construction “roller” technique was a first for the Turnpike and one of the few bridge slides to have been achieved in the commonwealth over the past three-plus decades. LDG teamed with Road-Con to replace the bridge on the northeast extension of I-476 in Lehigh County over the course of a single weekend, which successfully minimized disruption to tens of thousands of motorists and avoided stiff financial penalties.
This summer, Rissler will co-present a paper about the project at the 35th Annual International Bridge Conference® in National Harbor, MD. It will be his fourth paper since 2009 to be given at the prestigious conference, presented by the Engineers Society of Western Pennsylvania. He and his team also have made presentations about the bridge slide to the Delaware Valley Geo Institute/Structural Engineers Institute, PennDOT District 11-0, American Society of Highway Engineers (ASHE), Delaware Valley, Harrisburg, Williamsport and Franklin Chapters and Association of Pennsylvania Constructors (APC) meetings in Hershey and King of Prussia. Over a more than 25-year career, Rissler’s design experience has ranged from rehabilitation of existing bridges, new stream crossings and culverts to major interstate bridges on curved alignments.