2017 Ammann Awards Results: Part 2

Cobban Bridge spanning the Chippewa River near Cornell, Wisconsin. Winner of the Bridge of the Year Awards. Photo taken by Troy Hess.

Just 12 hours after publishing the press release of Part 1 of the Ammann Award winners, there was a lot of positive feedback from our Readers, especially in the category of Best Photo, where Chauncy Neumann came out the winner in that category, followed by Esko Räntilla and lastly, Kevin Skow- just to name the top three of the top six winners of the Awards. However, just after posting the first half of the results, I contacted the winner of Lifetime Achievement Award for an interview, informing him that he had won and asking him if he would be interviewed about his work. His Response: cool as heckfire, let’s do it! 🙂 There are two reasons for Nels Raynor to be honored for this year’s Lifetime Achievement Awards. The first has to do with his many years of hard work in restoring numerous bridges, especially with his company BACH Steel, located in Michigan. There will be more on his successes when the interview is finished and posted. The second has to do with a historic bridge he restored that won an accolade this year. That will come in a bit. But looking at the results, Raynor was in a dog-eat-dog battle with silver medalist James Baughn of Bridgehunter.com throughout most of the competition until he pulled away with 245 votes to Baughn’s 105 in the waning days of the voting process. The Bronze and Tourquois medals had to be split up among three people in each standing, all of whom had at least 104 votes but the margin between third and fourth place was only a single vote. Nevertheless, the finishing results look like this:

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT:

 

 

The Schlema Stone Arch Bridge spanning the Zwickauer Mulde River at Schlema

TOUR GUIDE INTERNATIONAL:

This category was the only one in the Ammann Awards where each candidate successfully vied for first place and stayed there before being dethroned by another one. Even the bridges in a small town of Rochlitz, southeast of Leipzig, took first place honors for a few days before being outvoted by silver medalist, Winnepeg (Canada) and bronze medalist, St. Petersburg (Russia). It finished in fourth with 92 votes, five less than St. Petersburg.  It also marked a first where a candidate was entered twice due to additional bridges that were added after the first run. That was with Glauchau (Saxony), Germany, which finished fifth in the 2016 Awards but because of four additional bridges, plus information from local historians and local publicity from the newspapers, it was reentered in the 2017 competition. It finished fifth, receiving the Quartzite medal, after receiving 56 votes, far outdoing Quebec City, London (UK) and Cambridge (UK). The winner of the Tour Guide International Award goes to the bridges in the Aue-Schneeberg Region in western Saxony, Germany. Featuring the bridges along the Zwickauer Mulde, Schwarzwasser and Schlema Rivers, the region, which has bridges in the cities of Aue, Schneeberg, Schlema and even Zschorlau finished with 126 votes, after lagging behind Glauchau until the second-to-last day, thus receiving the Gold medal. More Information on the bridges in the region can be found here. Here are the rest of the results:

Albertus Meyer Memorial Bridge in Allentown (Lehigh Co.), PA  Photo by HABS-HAER

TOUR GUIDE USA:

There are many characteristics that make this year’s winner a treat to visit. Lehigh County, Pennsylvania has a wide array of covered bridges as well as arch bridges. They include, on the one hand, the Geiger and Rex Covered Bridges- both the oldest still in use- but also the oldest stone arch bridge in Reading  (built in 1824) and the Albertus Meyer Memorial Bridge in Allentown, a 1913 arch viaduct that is the longest in the county. That was probably the main reason why the majority of voters selected Lehigh County as this year’s Tour Guide winner. After tangling with Clinton County, New York, Lehigh County received the gold medal with 201 votes, 71 more than Clinton County, which received the Ore Medal with 131 votes. Silver and Bronze go to the bridges in northern West Virginia, where Marshall County finished second with 149 votes and Wheeling finished with only two votes less. Civil war-based arch bridges in Bridges to the Past in Hardin County received tourquois with 132 votes. While the Cleveland Browns Football Team are walking away from the most humiliating football Season on record with an 0-16 record, the people of Cleveland are taking pride in the city’s bridges with 131 voters checking the City in for a fifth place finish and a Quartzite Medal. Here is the final tally of the top six of 14 candidates.

The Springfield Bowstring Arch Bridge at its new location in Conway, AR. Winner of the Best Preservation Practice Awards. Photo taken by Wayne Keller

BEST EXAMPLE OF A RESTORED HISTORIC BRIDGE

In perhaps the most intensive finish in the history of the Ammann Awards, the race came down to two bridges, each with its own preservation Story. The Springfield Bowstring Arch was perhaps one of the most successful bridge preservation stories on record, as crews saved the leaning 1871 iron bowstring arch bridge from disaster by dismantling it as well as rebuilding it at its new Location at a park in Conway in Faulkner County, Arkansas.  For Nels Raynor and the Crew at BACH Steel, this 18-month Project, which included several volunteers, consultants and historians, was one of the shortest and most successful on record, for it usually takes 2-3 years to accomplish such a feat. But for the crew, it was the most successful Story in the company’s history and one of the best in bridge preservation history.

It had some massive competition from another bridge, located in Des Moines, Iowa, in the Green Bridge. The 1898 three-span Pratt through truss bridge was restored on site with new cassion piers and truss bridge parts as well as new decking and lighting and became a posterboy in the face of the City council’s attempts to modernize the Des Moines River crossings by replacing arch bridges with faux arches. Grand Avenue fell victim with Locust and Court Avenues coming up on their plans. With their success Story, perhaps the City will rethink the way they treat their historic structures as they have been on the onslaught by those who think newer and leaner is better. Both Green and Springfield had raced neck-on-neck, changing leads at least two dozen times in the last two weeks of the competition before Springfield finally edged the Green Bridge for Gold medal by a score of 1720 votes to the silver medalist’s 1682. Bronze went to the Ponte Pensil Sao Vicente in Santos, Brazil, with 717 votes. This category had more bowstring arch bridges in the top six than in the past, as the crossings at the Columbiana County Fairgrounds in Ohio and at Merrimack College near Boston finished in fourth and fifth respectively. The Ore Medal for sixth place goes to the Broadway Avenue Bridge in St. Peter, Minnesota, which the Minnesota River crossing garnered 366 votes. 6126 votes were recorded in this category, which was the second best behind the last category of the Awards.

 

Cobban Bridge spanning the Chippewa River near Cornell, WI: Winner of Bridge of the Year.

BRIDGE OF THE YEAR:

With 7160 votes total for 13 candidates, the Bridge of the Year category set a new record for the highest number of votes recorded  in the history of the Ammann Awards. None of the candidates received less than 200 votes each but there was a fierce competition for first place among five bridge candidates which lasted until the final four days of voting. It was then that 1800 voters selected the two-span Pennsylvania through truss bridge spanning the Chippewa River in Wisconsin, the Cobban Bridge. The 1908 product of Modern Steel Structures Company is listed on the National Register of Historic Places but its future is in peril after county officials voted to Close off the bridge to all traffic last year, deeming it unsafe. Officials want to see the bridge replaced by 2021 but locals would like to see the bridge saved and rehabilitated for reuse. There has been on ongoing debate on what to do with the bridge. Despite claims that the cost for rehabilitating the bridge is prohibitive, figures have been revealed as overexaggerating. Could the Cobban Bridge be the next Green Bridge of Des Moines? 2018 will be the decisive year for residents of Chippewa County and the state of Wisconsin as to what will become the lone truss bridge of its design in the state, let alone the last of its kind in the country.

Apart from the Cobban Bridge receiving Gold, the silver medal winner went to the Springfield Bowstring Arch Bridge with 617 votes, two thirds shy of the triple crown for BACH Steel. The duo truss bridges of Pulp Mill in Berlin, New Hampshire received the bronze with 589 votes, despite having competed with Cobban, fourth place finisher Hvita Bridge in Iceland (which received 580 votes) and the Wave in Glauchau, Germany for first place. Pilp Mill had traded leads with Cobban several times before the last rush put it out of reach by a long shot. The Wave finished tied for 10th with Green Bridge and well out of medal range. Despite being arsoned for the second time in over a decade, the Cedar Covered Bridge near Winterset, Iowa received the Quartzite and finished fifth with 435 votes, 11 votes more than the ore medal winner, the Covered Bridges of New Brunswick, Canada, the topic of discussion and many stories because of closures due to structural issues and drivers falling through the flooring. Here is the tally in detail:

And with that ends the most intensive but exciting 2017 Ammann Awards. Observing the voting process and watching people get engaged made this round as exciting as the Holiday Season itself, even though the latter was shorter than normal due to Christmas Eve falling on thr Fourth Advent which meant shorter Holiday Shopping and time for Christmas Markets. In any case, with plans of other Websites, like Bridgehunter.com planning to go international and the Chronicles providiing more coverage, including bridge tours, bridge book profiles, interviews and others, it is hoped that the 2018 Ammann Awards will be bigger and more exciting than this year.

While the author of the Chronicles picks his favorites to be published in the next article, those interested in submitting bridges, photos and more should keep in mind that nominations officially begin on October 3rd and end December 3rd. Voting will proceed right afterwards, ending on January 8th, 2019. Winners to be announced on January 12th. For details, click here and/or contact Jason D. Smith at the Chronicles if you have any questions.

For now, let’s have a look at the Author’s Choice Awards, which follows this article and I must warn you: If you are a fan of Judge Marilyn Milian of the People’s Court, you will have a blast at what she could have said to the stories that made headlines in 2017. Stay tuned! 🙂

Robert Stephenson’s Aerial Tubeway (Britannia Bridge, Menai Strait, Wales, UK) — The Beauty of Transport

I sometimes wonder if drivers using the Britannia Bridge ever appreciate the fact that they shouldn’t really be there at all. But for one of British railway architecture/engineering’s more unfortunate moments, the Britannia Bridge might well have remained what it originally was, a railway bridge pure and simple. Straddling the Menai Strait between Anglesey and […]

via Robert Stephenson’s Aerial Tubeway (Britannia Bridge, Menai Strait, Wales, UK) — The Beauty of Transport

Book Project on Schleswig-Holstein’s Bridges Underway: Now Accepting Information, Photos and Stories

Rendsburg High Bridge spanning the Baltic-North Sea Canal. Photo taken in 2011

Touted by many to be the most beautiful state in Germany, Schleswig-Holstein offers a mixture of landscapes and climates to attract the vacationer wishing to escape the city life. It is sandwiched by two different seas- the North Sea in the west and the Baltic Sea in the east, each offering different forms of flora and fauna as well as Schietwetter (storms producing high winds, torrential downpours and high tides). The Baltic-North Sea Canal, connecting the state capital of Kiel with Brunsbüttel via Rendsburg slices the state into two, even though the 1895 canal replaced a 1700s canal that complimented the longest river in the state, the Eider. That river starts near Kiel and ends in the North Sea, but not before passing through bridge-laden towns of Rendsburg, Friedrichstadt and Tönning, while at the same time, connecting with the rivers Treene and Sorge.

The hills east of Kiel and in the Seegeberg region provides a great backdrop for photographers wishing to get some pictures of scenery along the river Schwentine, which also gets its additional water from the lakes region near Plön and Eutin, located between Kiel and Lübeck. At the same time, the state is bordered to the south and east by two major waterways: the Elbe to the south and the 80 kilometer long Lauenburg-Lübeck Canal to the east. From Lübeck going north into Denmark, the state receives additional water from the Baltic Sea in the form of fjords, found in Kiel, the Schlei region and Flensburg. The western half is characterized by flat plains with gullies and diversion canals to channel water and protect farmlands and beaches from flooding.

 

Stone Arch Bridge in Friedrichstadt: the oldest in the Dutch community at 240+ years. Photo taken in August 2017

With all this water, one needs to cross it- by bridge!

 

Many books have been written about the history of places in Schleswig-Holstein and the different regions full of natural habitats and historic places of interest. There are enough books on light houses (including the famous Westerhever), windmills (like the ones in the Dithmarschen, Schleswig and Ostholstein districts), and holiday resorts (like St. Peter-Ording, Travemünde and Fehmarn) to fill up a library section, just with those alone. There is even a book on the Faces of Flensburg, focusing on the people who made the former rum capital and key port famous, including the founder of the adult entertainment store, Beate Uhse, who opened the world’s first store of this type in 1962.

 

Bridge of Friendship at the German-Danish border north of Flensburg. Photo taken in 2010

Yet with many bridges in Schleswig-Holstein- many of which have histories going back over 100 years, only two books have been written about this topic: one on the bridges along the Baltic-North Sea Canal, one on the dual draw bridge north of Lübeck (which no longer exists). The most recent book, published last year, commemorated the centennial of the two-span arch bridge in Friedrichstadt, whose drawbridge span allows for passage along the Eider.  Not even a book on the Fehmarn Bridge, the world’s first basket-handle tied arch bridge has been written.

 

White Draw Bridge in Tönning

This leads us to the question of why we’ve neglected to write about the other bridges in the state.

 

Since 2011, I’ve been photographing and writing about some of the bridges in the state, which includes the cities of Kiel, Flensburg, Lübeck and Friedrichstadt as well as the bridges along the Baltic-North Sea Canal, wondering what they looked like a century before, how they were built and who built them. In addition, research is being undertaken to find out what other bridges exist in the present, had existed before getting replaced by modern structures and who were behind the building of the bridges. Even more interesting is the role of bridge engineers in Schleswig-Holstein, as the state imported many famous ones, like Friedrich Voss and Hermann Muthesius but exported just as many to other regions in Germany, Europe and even the United States. Lawrence H. Johnson was one of those who made his mark both as a bridge builder and a politician- in the state of Minnesota!

 

One of many pedestrian crossings over the gullies and canals at Westerhever Lighthouse

With as much work put in as possible, the decision has been made to write a book on the bridges in Schleswig-Holstein. This five-year project will focus on the bridges, past and present, which has shaped the state and its infrastructure, while at the same time, fostered tourism, business and commerce, especially over the last 150+ years. At the same time, however, we will look at the engineers who left their mark in the state while those, who originated from S-H, emigrated to other places to leave their legacies.  The work will be written in three languages: German, English and Danish, reflecting on the languages of the residents and those who are interested in reading this piece and visiting the sites.

 

I’m looking for the following in order to complete this book project:

 

1. Old photos, postcards and information on the bridges in Schleswig-Holstein, especially including the previous crossings (those that were replaced with today’s modern structures) and ones that no longer exists. This includes bridges in towns and cities as well as along the rivers: Stör, Eider, Sorge, Trave, Aarau, Treene and Schwentine, and also those along the canals: Alte Eider, Lauenburg-Lübeck and Gieselau.

 

2. Stories about the bridges in Schleswig-Holstein that are memorable and worth mentioning in the book. Already mentioned in the book on the Eider Bridge in Friedrichstadt, sometimes stories and memories about the bridge makes the crossing one worth remembering.

 

3. Information on the bridge engineers in Schleswig-Holstein who left their mark in bridge building, apart from Friedrich Voss as well as those who originated from the state that left their mark elsewhere, like Lawrence H. Johnson.

 

4. As the book will feature the Danish version, I’m looking for a Danish translator, preferably either a native speaker or one who has mastered the language (as the Germans would say, Sicher in Wort und Schrift)

 

If you have any information that will be of use for the book or would like to support the book project in anyway, shape or form, please use the contact form below and send me a line. You can also contact the Chronicles via facebook by using its messenger on its page. Additional contact information is available by request.

 

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Please feel free to pass this information around to anyone who wants to contribute, as this is open to not only bridge experts and enthusiasts, but also locals and people who either have knowledge of the bridges in Schleswig-Holstein, are willing to help out or both.

 

An 1800s arch bridge spanning the River Schwentine in Kiel

With many key bridges out there (going beyond the ones that I’ve profiled), and many historic bridges being replaced with modern ones, whose lifespans are half of that of their predecessors, it is time to bring them to light. Because after all, they have just as much value to Schleswig-Holstein as the other key features the state has to offer. One has to click on the highlighted names in this article and look at the offer of books for sale at a local book store or via amazon to find out how important these structures are for the development of the state that prides itself on sailing, shipping, handball, sheep, windmills, farming, Sauerfleisch, rum, roasted potatoes, beer, Schietwetter and the famous greeting of “Moin moin!”