For Immediate Release
May 17, 2004
For More Information
Jesse Lewis
515.288.3141
RDG Planning & Design is pleased to announce that the “Iowa Interstate Railroad Bridge Over First Avenue” project in Coralville, IA, was recently honored with the Grand Conceptor Award (1st place) by the American Council of Engineering Companies of Iowa. RDG provided the aesthetic design for this single span viaduct, working as part of a larger team with structural design firm NNW, Inc., of Iowa City, and steel fabricator Caroline Steel Corporation in Greensboro, NC.

This project was a partnership effort for Iowa Interstate Railroad, the City of Coralville, the Iowa DOT, Iowa City, and the University of Iowa to ease congested traffic under the old railroad bridge. The design team’s concept replaced the old viaduct with a new railroad bridge that greatly improved the efficiency and safety of train traffic over First Avenue, and automobile and pedestrian traffic on First Avenue.
The bridge is designed as a contemporary expression of the Midwestern “prairie school” architecture theme. Locally obtained materials and colors express simple geometric patterns, while keeping construction and maintenance costs low. The bridge is lighted, the concrete columns veneered with Iowa limestone, and the terraced grounds around the bridge planted with flowering plants and grasses. The bridge has already become an aesthetic landmark in the Coralville/Iowa City metro area. In 2003, this project received an award for engineering and aesthetic design excellence from the Iowa Chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers.
The American Council of Engineering Companies of Iowa is a statewide association of engineering firms. This award was presented at the Council’s 48th annual conference and awards banquet in Des Moines, on April 1, 2004. RDG Planning & Design provides architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, strategic planning, engineering, lighting design and interior design services.