Seattle Annual Popsicle Stick Bridge Competition

The American Society of Civil Engineers has been putting on an annual popsicle stick bridge competition for high schools in western Washington for the last 13 years. Last year, I entered with a 350 gram, 30 inch long bridge that carried 567 pounds under their hydraulic press. Their website is http://www.seattleasce.org/ymf/popsiclebridge.html . They score the bridges on efficiency (I won at that!) and aesthetics (I don’t know why I didn’t win at that).

10 Responses to “Seattle Annual Popsicle Stick Bridge Competition”

1. carolyn - May 19, 2011 at 1:13 am

   where can the plans for the constr4uctions be obtained 

   Reply
   • Garrett Boon - May 19, 2011 at 12:17 pm

     Carolyn, the author did not submit any plans for this bridge. I am not aware if he has any available.

     Reply
2. tylor - October 20, 2010 at 6:38 pm

   Made a .86 ounce bridge that held 83lbs giving it an efficiancy of 1544.2!

   Reply
   • Garrett Boon - October 21, 2010 at 8:37 am

     Nice! Do you have any pictures of your bridge?

     Reply
3. Bipul - January 26, 2010 at 11:31 am

   i am a btech 1st year student from bhubaneswar ,odisha,india & want to make a 350cm long truss popsicle bridge for which efficency is require more than 650 points .
   i requires some design and hints . please help me.

   Reply
4. Darrel Belvin - October 20, 2009 at 10:21 pm

   This last year I entered an amazing bridge that won both aesthetics and efficiency. It was 350 grams, 30 inches long, and held 993 lbs, 1300 times its own weight! The materials are: high grade popsicle sticks, elmers white glue, lots of clamps, lots of thinking, lots of time(they allow about 4 months), good craftsmanship, and a lot of patience.

   Reply
   • Garrett Boon - October 21, 2009 at 12:50 pm

     Thanks for sharing, Darrel. Do you have any pictures of your bridge or that competition?

     Reply
5. shamya london - April 21, 2009 at 12:37 pm

   you are not helping me out i need some information. cmon maine how do you do this stuff . ya hear me.

   Reply
6. Sage - April 13, 2009 at 1:43 pm

   It’s Simple…
   all you need is about 300-400 popsticle sticks and a hot glue gun or a regular glue…
   then start combinning some popsticles to make a medium size arch to hold about 10 pounds with will trigger it to weild more weight for your science project.
   at the end you should come out to about 40-70 pound bridge that can probubuly hold about 100-200 pounds of weight.

   -Sage

   Reply
7. angelina - March 25, 2009 at 5:35 pm

   these bridges you make are so awesome!Im building a bridge for school, its going to be displayed at edwards mill school inWhittier C.A.,and I need some tips on how to build bridges.I am building an arch bridge after I test it ill make a video and send it to you.Anyway, thanks for the bridge building tips!Bye!

   Reply