West Point Bridge Design Contest
The 2007 contest is over, check back next year for another chance to win!
Here is the Local Contest’s winning bridge:
This is not the winning design for the worldwide contest, just the GarrettsBridges.com local contest. Congratulations to Big Jake who submitted the design and won $100.
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January 13th, 2007 at 8:28 pm
Whats yalls prices at for the local contest?
January 14th, 2007 at 10:14 pm
So Garrett why are you not entering the contest?
January 15th, 2007 at 12:57 pm
Because I am sponsoring the contest :). Why should I try to win my own contest?
I am curious, how did you find out about this local contest?
January 15th, 2007 at 6:47 pm
I was just using Google to look for stuff concerning the contest and I came across your site. And are you in the regular contest?
January 17th, 2007 at 8:09 am
I am *competing* in the national contest, but I stopped working on more designs.
January 27th, 2007 at 10:02 am
these brides are so cool just like you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! keep the good work!!
January 31st, 2007 at 5:42 pm
I like bridges! Can you send me designs?
January 31st, 2007 at 5:44 pm
Hey Mr. Stincic I’m going to win!
January 31st, 2007 at 10:26 pm
Joe what you going to win?
February 1st, 2007 at 2:42 pm
To Sean in TwigsforBridge,
Good luck in the contest. I was born in Oakland, CA :).
February 1st, 2007 at 3:01 pm
whats the cheapest bridge so far????
February 1st, 2007 at 6:23 pm
in the local contest or national competition?
February 15th, 2007 at 10:54 am
I am a Technology Education teacher. This is our first year with the Contest. We are starting from Scratch. $118,973 is our cheapest design so far. We use what I would call traditional designs. I don’t know any fancy engineering concepts, or have any creative, radical ideas about how to get below that amount. But somehow, a lot of you have. We use 24 meter, Arch Abut. , 24 meter, medium strength concrete, standard load, carbon steel hollow tubes and a couple of solid bars. Any suggestions would be great.
February 15th, 2007 at 7:44 pm
Hi,
The Big Jake…you are currently ranked #1 in the world right??
My partner and I are ranked 22nd in the world. Would you mind telling us your lowest bridge price? We are wondering how much farther we have to go to go up places. Thank you. Oh and the guy doing the contest. Can we enter if we already have a bridge building account?
February 19th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
Big Jake’s has to be below $16,400, because I know the Sequim WA teams are in that range.
February 19th, 2007 at 1:26 pm
I meant $116,400
February 20th, 2007 at 3:54 pm
I am ranked #78 in the world and I would like to be #1. I know that I am better than all you suckers. I am definately the best bridge builder in the world. No one can touch me, except I have messed up on my last couple of bridges and they do not seem to hold up very well. Although your suggestions are not wanted, I would like to hear back from you guys with some tips so I can smoke you guys!!
February 20th, 2007 at 7:34 pm
Okay?!?! that was an interesting coment……. Gordon Sindersine, how do you know what price them guys are at do you go to school there or something? And if they are at $116,400 I have a considerable lead on them. More than I thought anyway.
February 20th, 2007 at 8:20 pm
Eh, in this case words mean nothing. If you can get the #1 spot, then prove it by doing it like Jake has.
Your last two sentences are contradictory; tips and suggestions are the same thing.
If you already have an account for the main contest, you will need to make a new one for the local contest. Be sure to enter the local contest code on the last page of registration GBC50A.
February 22nd, 2007 at 9:47 am
i made a bridge in class that wade 4 onces and held 30 pounds
February 22nd, 2007 at 12:30 pm
Cool, do you have a picture of it?
February 22nd, 2007 at 12:36 pm
Since I am a teacher, I contacted the teacher in Sequim.
February 22nd, 2007 at 12:42 pm
Big Jake…how is it you are so good at this contest? I listed our initial settings before truss design in a comment above. If you and others are using a different starting point, then we at our school may never figure out how to reduce the price down into your ranges.
February 22nd, 2007 at 4:02 pm
Hey Big Jake. You think you are soooooo good, but in all reality, you are not. Your bridges are nothing but splintered planks of mass humility. Your designs are simple, child-like replications of child’s toys. Do not mess with the best, or your bridge will crumble like the rest. PEACE OUT.
February 22nd, 2007 at 8:50 pm
SuspensionDestroyer, watch out. I will not tolerate personal attacks on other people here. Anything more of this nature and your IP will be banned.
February 22nd, 2007 at 10:54 pm
Thx Garett, and SuspensionDestroyer you aint got nothing to back up your big mouth.
February 23rd, 2007 at 7:56 am
I’ll back up everything that I say. I’ll show you what a real bridge builder can do, what a real bridge looks like. Your bridges will be a wisp in comparison to mine, The Behemoth. Your threats cannot deter me from letting you know how much better I am than you. Watch out for me in the competition. I will DESTROY you guys.
February 23rd, 2007 at 10:22 am
Ok… Ok… If you can do more than me, than prove it. Send me a pic of the best bridge you’ve ever built. And then I’ll show you the best one, and a link to the video of how much the bridge could hold. This bridge, made out of balsa wood, only wieght 50 grams, but held 50 kg. So suck it.
February 23rd, 2007 at 10:29 am
Yo, SuspensionDestroyer, watch your mouth. These guys work hard to build their bridges and they make some pretty good bridges. LEave them alone unitl you can prove that you are worth anything. I don’t see your name anywhere. Be a man and step up to the plate. Until then, go away
February 23rd, 2007 at 3:12 pm
Leave SuspensionDestroyer alone. He is a great bridge builder. I know him personally, if you know what I mean. I have seen his bridges in action and they are some sick stuff. His designs are creative but efficient. He deserves to be number one. The Big Jake, you got nothing on SuspensionDestroyer. Sit down and leave the great one alone.
February 23rd, 2007 at 3:18 pm
LOL, This is kinda funny.
February 23rd, 2007 at 3:42 pm
Yeah, it’s real funny
February 23rd, 2007 at 4:09 pm
What a bold statment. Once again LOL.
February 24th, 2007 at 5:55 pm
Wow #78 in the world. Why dont you get a life? And leave #1 in the world alone. geez. go play runescape.
February 25th, 2007 at 2:16 am
http://www.runescape.com
February 25th, 2007 at 2:39 pm
Hey, I like Runescape!
February 25th, 2007 at 5:40 pm
you play the noble sport? tell #78 in the world about it. oh yeah. he probably already plays it.
February 25th, 2007 at 5:42 pm
im 6th in your contest garrett. what’s everyone’s prices. i know Big jake has a giant lead on everyone.
February 25th, 2007 at 9:30 pm
im at 147K! the noble sport??
February 26th, 2007 at 6:56 pm
im at 156. how did u solve the the short center pier thing? i just did a botton truss, like a pyramid, pointing towards the pier. u?
February 26th, 2007 at 6:57 pm
u going to say something jimmy?
February 26th, 2007 at 7:04 pm
mine is double arches with a single line of beams going up
February 26th, 2007 at 8:52 pm
Sorry, I deleted jimmy’s content but left empty posts so I would remember to ban his IP.
February 26th, 2007 at 9:23 pm
Did he say something naughty?
February 26th, 2007 at 10:45 pm
wait- double arches with what? cut the jargon please. i want plain english.
February 26th, 2007 at 10:46 pm
hey i just noticed- y is Big jake in black, while we are in blue?
February 26th, 2007 at 10:46 pm
what grade is everyone in?
February 27th, 2007 at 2:37 pm
Your name appears in blue when you have filled in the URL field when posting a comment.
February 27th, 2007 at 9:23 pm
one single line of beams coming off the pier and two arches meeting in the middle. and i should be blue now
March 2nd, 2007 at 8:41 pm
Gordon Sindersine, would you be able to help me out? I’m not in the big contest but I am doing a project for my school using this software and the top 5 get an A. It follows the same rules as the big contest but ours has to be under 160, 000. I would really appreciate it. Thanks
March 3rd, 2007 at 2:21 am
what did jimmy say? just curious.
March 3rd, 2007 at 2:21 am
ask big jake for help. hes 1st in world.
March 3rd, 2007 at 8:25 am
Sorry, what jimmy said is not going to be repeated.
March 3rd, 2007 at 3:49 pm
yeah i’ll help email me your bridge to: bridgebuilderfan@gmail.com
March 18th, 2007 at 6:17 pm
any tips on how to get a bridge lower?
April 17th, 2007 at 7:57 am
To BridgeNewbie: No one has really helped me although I have tried to contact others in zones other than ours for input. All I did was read the information under the Resources tab at the West Point contest website, and then read the help menu in the software and the flow chart on how to design a bridge. Then I looked at all of the initial settings you have to select before truss design and tried to pick one of the lowest initial costs. Then we designed our bridge below the roadbed using triangles. We took all parts down until they failed, then slowly made them thicker until it worked. We use the lowest cost materials in our designs. We cant seem to break under 118,000 though. There are a lot of designs cheaper than that. Hope that helps.
April 23rd, 2007 at 8:48 am
Who ever it was that made that comment for Gordick Sindersine is sick. I didn’t make it. How about it blog web site manager? Are you going to do something about that?
April 23rd, 2007 at 3:06 pm
Don’t worry Gordon, that person will no longer be able to access the site.
SPAM posts deleted.
April 24th, 2007 at 11:12 pm
I have a bridge at 117,000. Can anyone help me get lower?
April 24th, 2007 at 11:29 pm
To TrussUsToCross:
Yes it’s me; the SECOND best in your school.
April 27th, 2007 at 11:28 am
To BestChance: What are the initial settings for your bridge, before truss design…like standard abutments, arch, length, height, concrete, loading, etc…
April 27th, 2007 at 6:42 pm
To Gordon Sindersine: I use 24 meter elevation and 24 meter arches; standard truck, medium strength concrete. I use all carbon steel hollow tubes and my highest thickness for the tubes is 130mm (lowest is 30mm). I also don’t use any of the demo arches they offer me.
April 28th, 2007 at 12:05 am
Hey, this is Matt..i havent posted on this forum since the TrussUsToCross intial post on Feb 15th. So, don’t get me confused with my partner, Brian, who has made most of the posts under our name. LOL..
–anyway–
Danny, about time u finally started looking for outside refrences!! ha. grats on getting into 7th place. Current Bridge Price?
Garret, i think u might have already answered this on Jake’s forums..but,
Are you hosting another local bridge contest next year???
-Thanks
April 28th, 2007 at 10:10 am
Matt: My current price is $117, 834.12. Yes, I do follow my prices exactly.
April 28th, 2007 at 3:11 pm
Danny,
Ok, fyi you are more than $1,500 behind us. I will not give away our exact price..but that should give u a general idea of how much farther you have to go.
April 28th, 2007 at 4:31 pm
I hope to do another contest next year. However, I cannot predict how things will work out. I may end up being a penniless college student without means to offer a worthwhile prize. Hopefully I will be able to find a sponsor or two.
April 28th, 2007 at 7:05 pm
Haha..ok well thanks for even considering it!!
Perhaps with another year of experiance, brian and I will place better next year…(we got 6th this year)
April 28th, 2007 at 7:41 pm
Man don’t ya’ll wish there was still a semi and final round of the contest this year?
April 28th, 2007 at 10:11 pm
Well, this is our first year in the competition..but yeah that would be awsome!!
And they don’t even offer prizes this year either…(yippie..a paper certificate..lol)
Lets hope they get more funding next year.
April 29th, 2007 at 9:38 am
To BestChance: Those are the same settings we are using, as well as, the teacher in Sequim WA and he is in the low $ 116,000 range. We have worked for months and just can’t seem to figure out what it is we can do to break under $ 188,600. We are building totally under the road bed and have 6 segments from top to bottom. We also use carbon steel hollow tubes. The WA teacher says he uses some HSS and tells me to place importance on tension rather than compression. Maybe one day…in another life time we will figure out what seems to be so easy for many of you.
April 29th, 2007 at 1:45 pm
Sorry…I meant $ 118,000
April 30th, 2007 at 5:43 pm
Gordon,
I have spoken with Mr. Moore too..(i assume thats the sequim teacher u are referring to) Thanks for the info. Wow, I’m not as far behind as i thought if he is still in the 116,000’s…..
Practice, and more time, and you should be able to get below 118,000 Gordon. Good luck!
Big Jake, that means ur atleast $500 ahead of 2nd place! Woah!!
May 1st, 2007 at 1:25 pm
To TrussUsToCross(Matt): It was a long time ago when I got in touch with Mr. Moore, and at that time he was in the low $116,000 range. I haven’t checked his zone and the date of his entry lately. If he has a more recent entry, he is lower than his original. As a teacher, I just want to be able to direct my students. They still have to come up with the truss design and spend the time to optimize it. Thanks for the comments.
May 1st, 2007 at 8:51 pm
Gordon:
Oh, I see. Well, Mr. Moore’s last entry was back in January…so I assume he is still at the same price. Yeah, it took Brian and I ages to get past the stage many of your students are currently at. But, eventually the hard work will pay off, and their costs will drop. Make sure they keep up their work!
May 4th, 2007 at 11:51 am
We have broken under $ 118,000 and lowered our best price by right at $ 800. Changed our segment configuration and tweeked everything several times. We were stuck for over 3 months though.
May 14th, 2007 at 11:06 pm
What kind of designs are you using Gordon Sindersine? I am very curious about the lower costing bridges.
May 16th, 2007 at 7:47 am
We make what would look like a standard type bridge. Nothing that would seem to be unusual, or strange. We do not use one of the templates.
May 16th, 2007 at 10:09 am
Oh, okay. So I guess it’s symmetrical?
May 16th, 2007 at 5:32 pm
If you are competing in the contest itself, what’s your team name?
May 17th, 2007 at 12:51 pm
As to your question, yes they are. However, there are a lot of designs with prices well below ours and we just haven’t figured out how, or what it is to break below $117,000. The lower priced bridges may be unusual. I have students that are in the contest, but I am not. We are Mary Persons High School in Zone 2.
May 22nd, 2007 at 9:54 am
Gordon: Are your inner segments linear in relation to the slope of the surrounding mountains?
May 22nd, 2007 at 1:28 pm
To BridgeBuilder: As the former Secretary of Defense said: ” Some things just can’t be known.”
May 24th, 2007 at 10:29 pm
Um.. I’m not too into politics. What’s your bridge price by the way? Mine’s about $117, 600.
May 25th, 2007 at 8:17 am
My students are just $88 more
May 25th, 2007 at 5:47 pm
Ok. So you pretty much know their exact prices?
May 26th, 2007 at 5:55 pm
Yes, I’m their teacher and they show me their designs.
May 30th, 2007 at 7:28 pm
Well its May 30th… Only tonight and 1 more day before the Main Competition is OVER!!
May 31st, 2007 at 7:30 am
You guys are all a joke. By the way, I hate runescape and I could see why you guys would like it. It is its own little world in which your lives can have some significance, unlike in the real world. Have fun building your pathetic bridges. Some day, you will bow down to me as your god.
June 4th, 2007 at 5:36 pm
I’ll kill myself before I bow down to you!
June 6th, 2007 at 8:24 pm
To TrussUsToCross:
Actually all cotestants can keep competing until July 1st, but with no benefits except for long term local contests.
June 7th, 2007 at 9:34 am
Would anyone care to tell me their BEST bridge prices?
June 8th, 2007 at 6:19 pm
My lowest is $116, 295.77.
June 8th, 2007 at 6:19 pm
TrussUsToCross: I beat your design.
June 11th, 2007 at 7:45 pm
does anyone know what the winning design this year looked like?, i placed 19th in my zone and am just very interested
June 12th, 2007 at 7:54 pm
Yes, I know exactly what it looks like!
June 12th, 2007 at 11:33 pm
Well, of course you would know as you’re the best in the world. Are you planning on showing anyone what the design is and how you achieved it?
June 12th, 2007 at 11:34 pm
And what’s the price on it anyway? I can’t break $116,200.
June 13th, 2007 at 7:09 am
Jake, do you mind if I post a screen shot of your bridge for my local contest?
June 13th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
would you mind posting a picture of it here for us to see? please!
June 13th, 2007 at 5:33 pm
Garrett, It would be fine if you did.
June 13th, 2007 at 5:35 pm
Oh, and the price for the national contest was $115,414.95
June 16th, 2007 at 9:34 pm
Garret: Where will you post the bridge?
June 18th, 2007 at 12:11 pm
The image is posted in the main post.
June 18th, 2007 at 6:29 pm
Wow Robert, that really is a good bridge. I expect your design for the national contest is very odd but efficient like the local bridge.
June 20th, 2007 at 6:03 pm
Thanks bridge builder and yes my other bridge is quiet odd.
June 22nd, 2007 at 12:02 am
Why is it that the national scoreboards continue to update? Our placement is as of June 1st right??
June 22nd, 2007 at 5:36 pm
Because you can still enter bridges until July 1st. And they are not going to update the results page until late summer because the dude that updates the website is in Afghanistan.
July 17th, 2007 at 4:48 pm
hey i dont know anything about bridges or any of you or this contest for that matter. i know this is a late response ubt i hope yall do great!! Or did great!! my cousin is Garrett and he is realy good hope you guys have fun!
July 18th, 2007 at 7:09 pm
Thx, and yeah it is a little late.
July 21st, 2007 at 11:19 am
Hey Jake, what happened to your website? I took the link down to it because it your site wasn’t working anymore.
July 21st, 2007 at 6:05 pm
Srry bout that i just havnt had time to do anything with it.