Cal Poly Steel Bridge

The Steel Bridge Team is part of the Society of Civil Engineers (SCE), the largest and most active student organization within the College of Engineering at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. SCE is a student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and has won numerous regional and national awards, such as ASCE Student Chapter Community Service Award, the Most Outstanding Student Chapter for the Los Angeles Section, and the Robert Ridgeway Award for the best student chapter in the nation.


Each year our chapter competes in the Pacific Southwest Regional Conference, which includes twenty other universities from California, Nevada, Arizona, and Hawaii. If our team is successful in the regional competition, we advance to the National Student Steel Bridge Competition, which entails competing against the top ranked universities in the country.


Students are challenged in this competition to design and fabricate a 1/10 scale steel bridge to sustain specific loading conditions and conform to several other strict requirements. In order to be competitive, a team must perform well in categories such as construction time, overall deflection, weight, and aesthetics. This past year nearly 750 engineering undergraduates participated in our region’s conference. Our participation in this competition allows us to gain valuable experience pertaining to structural design, steel fabrication, project management, and teamwork!

Construction Practice