American Bridge Company

American Bridge Company, Inc.

Type	Private
Industry	Civil Engineering
Founded	1900
Headquarters	Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, United States
Key people	Michael D. Flowers, President and CEO Lanny Frisco, EVP Operations N. Michael (Mike) Cegelis, SVP Marketing and Development
Products	bridge building construction marine structures
Revenue	$328 million USD
Employees	500
Website	www.americanbridge.net

The American Bridge Company is a privately held civil engineering firm that specializes in building and renovating bridges and other large civil engineering projects. Founded in 1900, the company is headquartered in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh.

The firm has built many bridges in the U.S. and elsewhere; the Historic American Engineering Record at the Library of Congress notes at least 81.^[1] Among its other projects, American Bridge has built or helped build the Willis Tower, the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, launch pads, resorts, and more. During World War II, American Bridge produced landing ships (LSTs) for the United States Navy.

Competitors include Walsh Group, Flatiron Construction, and Skanska USA.

Related companies include American Bridge Holding Company and American Bridge Manufacturing Company, both also headquartered in Coraopolis.

History

The Eads Bridge on the Mississippi River, the first major bridge built primarily of steel, was constructed by one of American Bridge Co.'s antecedents in 1874.

American Bridge Company was founded in April 1900, through the JP Morgan-led consolidation of 28 of the largest U.S. steel fabricators and constructors. The company’s roots extend to the late 1860s, when one of the consolidated firms, Keystone Bridge Works, built the Eads Bridge, the first steel bridge over the Mississippi River, at St. Louis and still in use. In 1902, the company became a subsidiary of United States Steel as part of the Steel Trust consolidation.

The company pioneered the use of steel as a construction material; developing the means and methods for fabrication and construction that allowed it to be widely used in buildings, bridges, vessels, and other plate applications.^{[citation needed]} As a result, and due to its deep financial resources, American Bridge has performed world across the nation and the world since its founding.

Some of American Bridge’s most notable projects are more a testament to construction engineering know how and management abilities than to its historical strength in steel construction.^{[citation needed]}

The company went private in 1987.

The town of Ambridge, Pennsylvania was an American Bridge Company town (thus the name "Ambridge"), and is near their current headquarters of Coraopolis, Pennsylvania. Both municipalities are on the Ohio River near Pittsburgh, with access to many steel suppliers, as well as to waterborne and rail transport, to allow shipment of components and subassemblies.

American Bridge drew criticism for its role in the Discovery Land Company's Baker's Bay Golf & Ocean Club in the Bahamas: building in a highly sensitive mangrove and coral reef area of Great Guana Cay, a barrier island of Abaco. The project is opposed by the Sierra Club, Ocean Futures Society and dozens of conservation groups around the world. The local indigenous natives of Great Guana Cay have created a powerful opposition to construction, often bringing it to a halt through the Bahamian Supreme Court and U.K. Privy Council.

Notable projects

Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, New York Harbor

This is a representative, not an exhaustive, list.

Bridges

• • Silver Bridge, Point Pleasant, West Virginia (1927)
  • Macarthur Causeway, Miami, Florida (1997)
  • San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge, Oakland, California (1936)
  • Mackinac Bridge, Mackinac Straits, Michigan (1957)
  • Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, New York Harbor (1964)
• Built the longest concrete segmental cable stay bridge in the United States
  • Sunshine Skyway Bridge, Tampa Bay, Florida (1986)
• Built the longest suspension bridge in South America, and one of the longest in Europe.
  • Orinoco Bridge, Venezuela (1967)
  • 25th of April Bridge, Lisbon, Portugal (1966)

New River Gorge Bridge, West Virginia

• Built the world's longest arch bridge on three occasions.
  • New River Gorge Bridge, West Virginia, 1977, 518 meters, (1,700’)
  • Bayonne Bridge, Staten Island-New Jersey, 1932, 504 meters (1,652’)
  • Hell Gate Bridge, New York City, 1916, 298 meters (978’)
• Built the world’s longest self-supporting continuous truss bridge.
  • Astoria Bridge, Oregon, 1966, 376 meters (1,232’)
• Renovations of existing bridges
  • Moved an existing Norfolk Southern vertical lift bridge from Florence, Alabama, to Hannibal, Missouri, (1995)
  • First aerial spinning for additional main cables on a loaded, fully operational suspension bridge. 25 April Bridge in Lisbon, Portugal (1998)
  • First stiffening truss replacement on a loaded, fully operational suspension bridge. Lions Gate Bridge, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (2001)
• The ongoing Eastern span replacement of the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge, in a joint venture with Fluor Corporation, American Bridge-Fluor.

Buildings

Willis Tower, Chicago, Illinois

• Built the world’s tallest building on numerous occasions.
  • Willis Tower, Chicago, 1974, 443 meters (1,454’)
  • Empire State Building, New York City, 1932, 381 meters (1,250’)
  • Chrysler Building, New York City, 1931, 319 meters (1,046’)
  • Woolworth Building, New York City, 1913, 241 meters (792’)
• Built many other well-known buildings.
  • John Hancock Center, Chicago (and in Boston)
  • Aon Center (formerly Standard Oil), Chicago
  • Columbia Seafirst Center, Seattle
  • U.S. Steel Tower, 1970
  • Flatiron Building, New York City, 1902
• Built the world’s largest building by volume twice.
  • Vehicle Assembly Building, Kennedy Space Center, 1964
  • Boeing 747 Assembly Building, Everett, Washington, 1974
• Built two of the most notable domed stadium structures in the world
  • Louisiana Superdome, 1974
  • Houston Astrodome, 1964

Miscellaneous

• Space launch complex jacking for McDonnell Douglas Astronautics (now Boeing) (1994)
• Built bottom framework for the unique, modular room units for Walt Disney Company at the Contemporary Resort in Walt Disney World (1971).

Notes

See also

• Cardwell v. American Bridge Co.
• Continental Engineering Corporation

External links

Company information

• American Bridge Company home page
• Hoovers fact sheet on ABC

Projects and history

• HAER record of at least 81 ABC bridges/projects
• American Bridge Company Chronological history from the company site
• Old Economy Village history page with American Bridge Company history.