22nd Annual SEAOI Bridge Symposium

SAVE THE DATE: April 22, 2025

The Structural Engineers Association of Illinois is pleased to announce the 22nd Annual Bridge Symposium, which provides a forum for engineers to share analysis, design, and construction information from recent projects with unique and/or distinguishing characteristics.  Attendance typically represents a diverse cross-section of all aspects of the profession, including design, construction management, material suppliers, academia, general contracting, and owners’ representatives.  

Program

7:30am - 8:00 am	Registration/Breakfast
8:00 am - 8:15 am	Welcome and Introduction to the Symposium - Meet the Exhibitors!
8:15 - 8:45	Bridge Design for Canyon Launch in Denali NP Randy Thomas, PE - Technical Director, Jacobs
8:45 - 9:15	3-Tower 4-Span Cable Stayed Solution for the Chester Design Build Project over the Mississippi River Justin Mickens, PE, SE - Senior Bridge Engineer, Parsons
9:15 - 9:18	Platinum Speaker - HNTB
9:18 - 9:38	Break - visit exhibitors
9:38 - 10:08	Design and Construction of an Airplane Carrying Bridge for MidAmerica Airport Tony Shkurti - Regional Bridge Director, HNTB Allen Smith, PE, SE - Rail Structural Lead, CMT
10:08 - 10:38	Construction of the Gordie Howe International Bridge Matthew Chynoweth - Bridge Discipline, RS&H
10:38 - 10:41	Platinum Speaker - Michael Baker International
10:41 - 11:00	Break - visit exhibitors
11:00 - 11:30	Historic Bridge Management: How A Collaborative Engineering and Preservation Approach leads to Effective Project Solutions – with Case Studies Meg Kindelin, AIA - President / Architect, JLK Architects
11:30 - 11:50	Pearl Sessions (short presentations): 1. Rehabilitating 2-miles of Bridge Deck using Ultra-High Performance Concrete Greg Nault, PE, SE - Technical Manager, Bridges; Holcim 2.  Galvanic Anodes & Cathodic Protection Nick Drews, BSc, BCE, NACE CP2; Business Development Manager - Vector Corrosion Technologies
11:50 - 12:50	Lunch
12:50 - 1:20	Keynote Presentation John Donovan - Chief Operating Officer, Illinois Department of Transportation
1:20 - 1:38	Break - visit exhibitors
1:38 - 2:08	Designing Bridges for Superstructure Inundation Yinghong Cao, PhD, PE, SE - Supervising Engineer, Parsons Pat Kerins, PE - Supervising Engineer, Parsons
2:08 - 2:28	IDOT Bureau of Bridges and Structures Update Mark Shaffer, PE, SE - Bridge Design Section Chief, Illinois Department of Transportation Bureau of Bridges and Structures
2:28 - 2:58	Demolition 101: An Introductory Guide to the Bridge Removal Process Jacob Behnke, PE - Collins Engineers, Inc Jacob Dolas - Collins Engineers, Inc
2:58 - 3:28	The US 50-Blue Mesa Bridge Emergency Repair Analysis and Design Jon Beckstrom, PE, SE - Technical Manager, Michael Baker International Johann Aakre - Great Lakes Regional Operations Lead, Michael Baker International
3:28 -3:40	Break - visit exhibitors
3:40 - 4:00	CDOT Agency Update Arsalan Khan, PE, SE - Chief Bridge Engineer, Chicago Department of Transportation
4:00 - 4:30	Reconstruction of I-475 Bridge over the Flint River Enji Paul Papazisi, PE, SE - Bridge Engineer III, HNTB David Budzik - Bridge Engineer II, HNTB
4:30 - 5:00	Overlook Walk Bridge - Pushing the Limits of Post-Tensioning Justin Brown, PE, SE - Structural Engineer, Jacobs
5:00	Adjourn

Location

The Old Post Office
433 W Van Buren St
Chicago, IL 60607

Parking information can be found here.

Registration

Registration:

$400 - Member
$525 - Nonmember

Students:
$150

Group Registration: Companies with 5+ attendees will receive $30 off each registration fee. Complete list of attendees' names and addresses must be submitted to fheinzel@seaoi.org to qualify and for registration.

Exhibitor Opportunities

Exhibitor Registration -- $1,000 – (4 available)

• Dedicated table outside event space
• One admission to event
• Recognition in the program and from the podium
• Access to participants during breakfast, lunch and breaks during the day

Each additional Exhibitor registration is $200

Sponsor Opportunities

Lanyard Sponsor - SOLD OUT

• Sponsor logo inclusion and recognition as a Program Sponsor in SEAOI’s marketing efforts (email blasts, Tuesday Update, SEAOI website, etc.) to over 2,400 structural engineers and members of the built world
• Company logoed lanyard given to all registrants
• Two registrations to event
  
  

Lunch Sponsor- SOLD OUT

• Sponsor logo inclusion and recognition as the Lunch  Sponsor in SEAOI’s marketing efforts (email blasts, Tuesday Update, SEAOI website, etc.) to over 2,400 structural engineers and members of the built world
• 8.5” x 11” Sponsor recognition signage during Lunch
• Lunch served with cocktail napkins branded with sponsor's name/logo
• Two registrations to event
  
  

Program Sponsor - SOLD OUT

• Sponsor logo inclusion and recognition as a Program Sponsor in SEAOI’s marketing efforts (email blasts, Tuesday Update, SEAOI website, etc.) to over 2,400 structural engineers and members of the built world
• Dedicated back page of program given to all registrants
• One registration to event
  
  

Platinum - $1,500 (2 available)

• Sponsor logo inclusion and recognition as a Platinum Sponsor in SEAOI’s marketing efforts (email blasts, Tuesday Update, SEAOI website, etc.) to over 2,400 structural engineers and members of the built world
• Two minutes of speaking time during the event
• One registration to event
   

Breakfast Sponsor- SOLD OUT

• Sponsor logo inclusion and recognition as the Breakfast Sponsor in SEAOI’s marketing efforts (email blasts, Tuesday Update, SEAOI website, etc.) to over 2,400 structural engineers and members of the built world
• 8.5” x 11” Sponsor recognition signage during Breakfast
• One registration to event
   

Afternoon Break Sponsor- SOLD OUT

• Sponsor logo inclusion and recognition as the Afternoon Break Sponsor in SEAOI’s marketing efforts (email blasts, Tuesday Update, SEAOI website, etc.) to over 2,400 structural engineers and members of the built world
• 8.5” x 11” Sponsor recognition signage during Afternoon Break
•  One registration to event
  
  

A/V Sponsor- SOLD OUT

• Sponsor logo inclusion and recognition as the A/V Sponsor in SEAOI’s marketing efforts (email blasts, Tuesday Update, SEAOI website, etc.) to over 2,400 structural engineers and members of the built world\
• 24” x 36“ Sponsor recognition poster at event entrance
• Dedicated Welcome Slide
• One registration to event
   

Gold - $900

• Sponsor logo inclusion and recognition as a Gold Sponsor in SEAOI’s marketing efforts (email blasts, Tuesday Update, SEAOI website, etc.) to over 2,400 structural engineers and members of the built world
• Sponsor logo and recognition as a Gold Sponsor on all Welcome and Thank You slides
• Two SEAOI Tuesday Update Ads (date TBD by both parties)
• One registration to event
  
  

Silver - $700

• Sponsor logo inclusion and recognition as a Silver Sponsor in SEAOI’s marketing efforts (email blasts, Tuesday Update, SEAOI website, etc.) to over 2,400 structural engineers and members of the built world
• Sponsor logo and recognition as a Silver Sponsor on all Welcome and Thank You slides
• One SEAOI Tuesday Update Ad (date TBD by both parties)
   

Bronze - $400

• Sponsor logo inclusion and recognition as a Bronze Sponsor in SEAOI’s marketing efforts (email blasts, Tuesday Update, SEAOI website, etc.) to over 2,400 structural engineers and members of the built world
• Sponsor logo and recognition as a Bronze Sponsor on all Welcome and Thank You slides
  

Thank you to our Sponsors!

Lanyard Sponsor

Lunch Sponsors

Program Sponsor

Platinum Sponsor

Afternoon Break Sponsor

Audio/Visual Sponsor

Gold Sponsors

Partnering Sponsor

Thank you to our Exhibitors!

About the Speakers

KEYNOTE SPEAKER
John Donovan
Chief Operating Officer - Illinois Department of Transportation
John Donovan was named chief operating officer in 2023, advising the department on policy and providing oversight of operations as well as all other activities. Donovan worked for 21 years at the Illinois Division of the Federal Highway Administration, where he focused on safety conscious planning, performance-based planning and programming, as well as innovative funding and financing, in addition to providing merit and project readiness reviews for the U.S. Department of Transportation, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Housing and Urban Development discretionary grant programs. He also served as the Macon County zoning administrator and worked for the McLean County Regional Planning Commission. Donovan has a master’s in urban planning and policy from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a bachelor’s in urban and regional planning from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Randy Thomas, PE
Technical Director, Jacobs
Mr. Thomas is a Technical Director with Jacobs, based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His 30 years of experience include design and construction of highway and railroad bridges in over 25 states and provinces plus international locations. Mr. Thomas enjoys large, complex, and exciting projects and is a strong advocate for easily constructable designs. He is currently serving as the structures design manager for the Ohio Segment of the Brent Spence Bridge design-build project in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Bridge Design for Canyon Launch in Denali NP
An active landslide at milepost 43 prompted park officials to close the Denali Park Road in 2021. Jacobs provided a design solution fitting the site’s remoteness, steep terrain, environmental restrictions, and short construction season: a new 475-foot Warren thru truss employing short, lightweight, prefabricated pieces to be erected in balanced cantilever fashion and then conveyed as a complete span across the slide zone using a topside launching system that avoids the need for large cranes.

Justin Mickens, PE, SE
Senior Bridge Engineer, Parsons
Justin Mickens is a Senior Bridge Engineer in the Chicago office of Parsons corporation. He has over 9 years of experience in bridge design including complex and long span river crossings, freight rail bridges, and transit structures. Justin earned his bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering from Valparaiso University and his master's degree in Structural Engineering from Texas A&M University. Justin lead the superstructure design for the new Mississippi River Bridge at Chester.

3-Tower 4-Span Cable Stayed Solution for the Chester Design Build Project over the Mississippi River
This presentation will focus on the design and construction of a new cable-stayed bridge replacing an aging through truss bridge crossing the Mississippi River between Perryville, MO and Chester, IL. This will include how the design team selected the unique 3-tower 4-span configuration, as well the key strategies employed to optimize cost, construction duration, and technical performance.

Tony Shkurti
Regional Bridge Director, HNTB
Dr Tony F. Shkurti is an HNTB Fellow, Vice President and a nationally recognized expert in structural engineering that provides infrastructure solutions beyond the scope of standard procedures. He has led design teams from conceptual design through final plan delivery on projects involving design of precast segmental and cast-in-place post-tensioned concrete bridges, steel plate girder bridges with unique or complex framing layout. His research includes seismic retrofit of bridge substructures, bond and confinement, redundancy of bridge superstructures, bracing systems, fatigue and fracture behavior of steel bridges, infrastructure security risk assessment and mitigation and vehicular impact analysis.

Allen Smith, PE, SE
Rail Structural Lead, Crawford, Murphy, & Tilly (CMT)
Allen is CMT’s Rail Structural Lead whose past experience includes design team project manager on the award-winning replacement of the Merchants Bridge, one of only two rail bridges that carry five Class I railroads across the Mississippi River. Other noteworthy experience includes serving as senior bridge engineer for the Historic Eads Bridge Rehabilitation over the Mississippi, and program manager and team leader for the Terminal Railroad of St. Louis system-wide bridge inspection program. He has inspected over 1,000 railroad bridges, along with 1,000 highway bridges over his career. Allen began his career with the Illinois Department of Transportation, where he went on to spend two years at their Bureau of Bridges and Structures.

Design and Construction of an Airplane Carrying Bridge for MidAmerica Airport
MidAmerica St Louis Airport is a public use airport with a joint use agreement with Scott Air Force Base. After a detailed bridge type study where several superstructure types were investigated, the team proposed a closely spaced prestressed concrete bridge which was determined to be cost effective a more maintenance free. While a highway bridge must bear the weight of a semi-truck with the maximum load of 80,000 pounds, the Taxiway Lima bridge was designed to carry potential aircraft well over 580,000 pounds with an additional 30% impact factor and 25% future loading.

Matthew Chynoweth
Bridge Discipline, RS&H
Matthew has 19 years with MDOT and is responsible for all aspects of bridge design, construction, preservation, and asset management for the State of Michigan.

Construction of the Gordie Howe International Bridge
Presentation on the design, construction, and commissioning of the Gordie Howe International Bridge. When complete, it will be the longest cable-stayed bridge in North America.

Meg Kindelin, AIA
President / Architect, JLK Architects
Meg Kindelin, AIA, is President and Owner of JLK Architects. She has 25 years of experience in Architecture, History, and Preservation and has led restoration consultation and design for over 30 bridges and infrastructure projects. She brings a deep understanding of architecture, preservation and regulatory processes to her work and navigates complex requirements with ease. An established leader in preservation, Meg sits on committees for Landmarks Illinois and the Illinois State Historic Preservation Office.

Historic Bridge Management: How A Collaborative Engineering and Preservation Approach leads to Effective Project Solutions – with Case Studies
A successful historic bridge rehabilitation requires an integrated engineering and preservation approach. Application of SOI historic preservation standards is challenging in structures and bridges as they are not written for projects like bridges wherein the very structure members in many cases are the style and the carriers of historic meaning. This presentation describes best practices for working collaboratively with complicated, highly technical historic bridge projects using several active projects as Case Studies.

Greg Nault, PE, SE
Technical Manager, Bridges; Holcim
Mr. Nault is the technical manager of the ultra-high performance concretes produced by HOLCIM US. Prior to joining Holcim, Greg practiced as a bridge design engineer in Seattle and later as a bridge project engineer for a freight railroad company in Chicago. Greg is a registered PE and SE in Illinois, and received his BS and MS in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University at Buffalo NY, respectively.

Rehabilitating 2-miles of Bridge Deck using Ultra-High Performance Concrete
In 2022/2023, the 2-mile long, 4-lane concrete bridge deck of the Delaware Memorial (suspension) Bridge was rehabilitated using hydro-demolition and ultra-high performance concrete to add >50 years of service life to the bridge. This project was by far the largest implementation of UHPC as an overlay solution in the U.S. wherein >5,000 cubic yards of UHPC was installed across 550,000 ft2 of deck area. This presentation will highlight why this novel solution was selected and the means and methods to complete the work.

Nick Drews, BSc, BCE, NACE CP2
Business Development Manager, Vector Corrosion Technologies
Nick Drews is the Midwest Business Development Manager for Vector Corrosion Technologies with a background in Chemistry from the University of Winnipeg and Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota. Nick spent many years with Vector's Manufacturing and Research & Development Teams prior to joining the Business Group in 2021. He is currently a certified NACE CP2 Cathodic Protection Technician.

Galvanic Anodes & Cathodic Protection
This presentation will take the audience back in history to Cathodic Protection beginnings and move into covering Corrosion basics 101. Following that, the discussion will move into current design guides and codes while touching on the current best known Cathodic Protection design practices to halt corrosion well into the future.

Yinghong Cao, PhD, PE, SE
Supervising Engineer, Parsons  
Dr. Cao has over 25 years of experience in structural engineering. He received a PhD degree studying bridge wind induced vibrations in 1999. After that, he spent 9 years in bridge construction, and 3 years in research of structural health monitoring and nondestructive detection. His recent 13 years are doing bridge design. His expertise includes complex bridge analysis, structural dynamics, wind engineering, seismic design, rail-structural interaction and structural strengthening. 

Pat Kerins, PE
Supervising Engineer, Parsons
Pat Kerins is a supervising bridge engineer and project manager with experience in the design of conventional highway bridges. He has supported and overseen the structural analysis, design, and final plans production for numerous projects over an 18-year span. He has served as project manager and engineer of record for projects involving culvert replacements and extensions; a dual structure deck replacement; multiple prestressed, precast concrete beam bridges over interstates and rivers; and a bridge that was laterally slid into place using accelerated bridge construction techniques. As an individual contributor, Pat has served in supporting roles for many types of conventional and complex bridges as well as multiple project delivery methods, including design-bid-build and design-build.

Designing Bridges for Superstructure Inundation
This presentation reviews the literature of stream loads on bridges with inundated superstructure, recommends empirical formulas to envelope the results from various studies, and demonstrates the implementation of a bridge design in Iowa State.

Mark D. Shaffer, P.E., S.E.
Engineer of Bridge Design - Illinois Department of Transportation Bureau of Bridges and Structures
Mark Shaffer is the Engineer of Bridge Design for Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT). He oversees the incorporation of AASHTO policy into IDOT standards and works with other engineers and researchers to determine innovative and cost-effective solutions to bridge engineering issues. He also works with national institutions such as TRB and NCEES to help maintain the quality and innovation present in the bridge engineering community.

IDOT Bureau of Bridges and Structures Update

Jacob Behnke, PE
Collins Engineers, Inc
Jacob Behnke is a transportation engineer at Collins Engineers in Chicago, Illinois where he has worked for 5 years. Jacob grew up in Sacramento, California and moved to Chicago in 2016 where he earned his B.S. in Civil Engineering and M.Eng in Structural Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology. His experience includes developing bridge erection and demolition procedures, performing load ratings, and designing various bridge repairs.

Jacob Dolas
Collins Engineers, Inc
Jacob Dolas is an engineer at Collins Engineers, Inc. with experience developing solutions to unique construction engineering problems including bridge deconstruction and demolition, erection of complex structures, moveable bridge balancing, and shoring design.

Demolition 101: An Introductory Guide to the Bridge Removal Process
This presentation will serve to provide the bridge engineering community with a practical guide to bridge demolition, conveying common techniques and lessons learned. The process of developing a typical demolition procedure including selecting the appropriate methods of demolition, consideration and analysis of critical limit states specific to demolition, and common challenges faced (along with their solutions) will be discussed.

Jon Beckstrom, PE, SE
Technical Manager, Michael Baker International
Jon is a licensed structural engineer with 11 years on structural engineering experience, including the analysis, design, and load rating of steel, concrete, and complex bridges for clients nationally. In his current role as a bridge technical manager, he shares technical knowledge and provides oversight on various types of bridge projects throughout the Midwest and more widely throughout Michael Baker nationwide. His experience includes serving as the task lead on complex bridge analyses and load ratings, state-wide bridge load rating projects, and emergency repair projects.

Johann Aakre, PE, SE
Great Lakes Regional Operations Lead, Michael Baker International
Johann has garnered diverse experience in all aspects of bridge design, including highway, transit and freight rail, pedestrian, aviation, signature bridges, and expertise in accelerated bridge construction and refined analysis on projects locally in Illinois, regionally in the Midwest, and nationally. In his role as a Bridge Regional Operations Lead, he leads a team of bridge professionals, collaborates with other practice leaders to bring the best staff and resources to projects, provides quality reviews, and remains actively involved in project management.

The US 50-Blue Mesa Bridge Emergency Repair Analysis and Design

Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) discovered two partial fractures in the bottom tension flanges of the US-50 Blue Mesa Reservoir Bridge, a two-girder system, near Gunnison, Colorado. The bridge was immediately closed, and Michael Baker helped to develop safe loading limits to get inspection equipment back on the bridge. Soon after Michael Baker began producing potential repair options utilizing 100ksi yield steel material, which was ultimately installed within eight months.

Arsalan Khan, PE, SE
Chief Bridge Engineer, Chicago Department of Transportation
Arsalan Khan started as the Chief Bridge Engineer for CDOT in January 2025.  He is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago (BSCE 1997), and he has over 27 years of engineering experience, mostly in highway bridge design, inspection, and construction.  

CDOT Agency Update
A brief overview of the Bridge Section’s scope, responsibilities, selected projects, and future.

Enji Paul Papazisi, PE, SE
Bridge Engineer III, HNTB
Enji Paul Papazisi, PE, SE is a bridge project engineer with over 10 years’ experience in analysis, design, rating, inspection, and project management of complex bridges. Paul’s diverse work portfolio includes design of tied arch bridges, segmental analysis of post-tensioned concrete box bridges, redundancy analysis of steel integral-pier bridges, and load ratings for bascule bridges.

David Budzik
Bridge Engineer II, HNTB
David Budzik is a bridge engineer at HNTB with over 4 years of experience in the design, analysis, rating, inspection, and structural monitoring of complex bridges. David received his BS and MS in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Reconstruction of I-475 Bridge over the Flint River
This presentation will discuss the unique design constraints and complex construction sequence faced on the reconstruction of the I-475 Bridge over the Flint River. The existing six span pin & hanger bridge is being replaced with a three span continuous bridge utilizing K-frames and lean-on bracing to combat torsional effects from a 54 degree skew. The proposed structure was designed for 20’ of scour at each support and staged to maintain both directions of traffic throughout construction.

Justin Brown, PE, SE 
Structural Engineer, Jacobs
Justin Brown is a senior structural engineer at Jacobs, with a BS and MS from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is a licensed PE and SE in Illinois and a PE in Indiana. He has more than fifteen years of design, analysis and production experience in the fields of civil and structural engineering.

Overlook Walk Bridge - Pushing the Limits of Post-Tensioning
The Waterfront Seattle Overlook Walk Bridge pushes the limits of post-tensioning with large curvature along the bridge edge, shallow beam profiles and limited anchorage zones. This presentation will dive into the modeling and design challenges encountered in a bridge with such a dramatic and unique shape.