Eight prize winners and five merit winners have been named in the National Steel Bridge Alliance's 18th Prize Bridge Awards Competition. The competition began in 1928 and was held every year until 1977. Following 1977 the competition has been held biennially. The program acknowledges outstanding steel bridge design.

This year's winning projects are

1. Major Span - Tempe Town Lake Light Rail Bridge

2. Long Span - Corridor D Route 50 Bridge over the Ohio River and Blennerhassett Island and Washington County

3. Medium Span - Mount Si Bridge Replacement

4. Short Span - Roslyn Road Grade Crossing Elimination

5. Movable Span - Hamilton Avenue Bridge over the Gowanus Canal

6. Special Purpose - Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge

7. Reconstructed - Thurston Avenue Bridge over Fall Creek

8. Special Award - Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge

The program also designated Merit Awards for the following bridges:

1. MacArthur Maze Ramp Reconstruction, Oakland

2. Dr Martin Luther King Jr Memorial Bridge, Roanoke

3. Route 151 over the Salmon River, East Haddam

4. Sauk River Bridge, Darrington

5. Three Springs Drive Bridge, Weirton

The 2009 program attracted entries from Canada and the United States, covering a variety of structure types and construction methods. All structures were opened to traffic between January 2007 and May 2009.

The designers for each of the Prize Bridge Awards will be honored in a ceremony during the 2009 World Steel Bridge Symposium in San Antonio on November 19th 2009. The owners for each of the Prize Bridge Awards will be honored during the 2010 AASHTO Bridge Subcommittee meeting.

Winning projects were selected based on cost effectiveness, initial cost, life cycle cost, innovation, aesthetics, and design by a jury of four prominent bridge professionals.

(Sourced from www.aisc.org)