I am not exactly proud of this bridge, but it does bring back memories. It was the second bridge built by my old Science Olympiad Bridge Building partner, David, and I. As you can see, we were still in the beginning of our bridge building career. I assume David is still building bridges, as his father is an engineer. I have not seen him for several years.

This bridge took 5th place at our regional tournament way back in 2001. It weighed 48.something grams and held the entire 15kg without budging. The bridge was absolutely noiseless throughout testing. Back then, we didn’t test our bridges before competition.

I have no doubt this bridge could have held twice what it did. However, the bridge is no longer in existence. I threw it out after having it sit on my shelf for a couple years. Now I wish I had tested it to failure.

David and his dad did the designing for this bridge. Back then, I couldn’t have told you what a Howe truss was. I have come a long way since then ;).

The Howe truss is very solid, and has been used in engineering for a very long time. Read more about truss design.

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