Engineer creates a span with élan

If bridge engineer Patricia Dressel Steere, EG ’79, ’81M, had her way, the project she’s been working on since 1999 would never end.

“This type of bridge project doesn’t come along that often, and it has been a great opportunity to design a unique structure,” according to Steere, who is head of bridge design for the Maguire Group in Providence, R.I. The UD civil engineering graduate has played a major role in a $600 million project known as the Iway, which she describes as exciting and challenging.

“This project involves relocation of the I-195/I-95 interchange, which is the biggest intersection in the state,” Steere says. “It involves replacing deteriorating bridges, making safety improvements and improving traffic flow around and through the city.

“The project is so big that it’s been ‘branded.’ The trademark name and logo were created to create consumer awareness—in effect, becoming the face of the I-195 relocation project.”

While the Iway includes 16 bridges, the one Steere designed is considered the centerpiece of the project. Known unofficially as the Providence River Signature Bridge, the structure had not yet been formally named when it was installed on Aug. 28, 2006.

Steere worked with Providence architect William D. Warner in designing the bridge, soliciting input from other architects and engineers, as well as members of the community. While Steere admits that it is somewhat unusual for an engineer to collaborate with an architect on the design of a bridge, she feels that the process worked very well on this project.

“We wanted the bridge to add to the city architecturally,” she says. “But, even though a number of things were done to make the bridge look good, engineering decisions drove the project.”

Features added to enhance the aesthetics of the structure include ornamental pylons at the approach, inlaid bricks and granite and a striking blue-green color. Engineering decisions on the bridge’s design were dictated by a number of factors, including the complicated arrangement of the ramps connecting it to Route 95.

“We started out planning to use a traditional tied-arch design, which has vertical cables,” Steere says. “But, early in the design process, I learned about a network arch, which has inclined cables and is used more often in Europe than it is here in the United States. With this design, the entire structure works like a truss, so it can be lighter. This choice allowed for a more economical design because it used less steel.”

Warner, the architect who worked with Steere, credits her with doing her homework on the design. To learn more about network arches, she tracked down an expert in Norway, engineer Per Tveit.

The bridge was a challenge not only to design but also to install, Steere says. Assembled off-site at Quonset Point, the completed bridge had to be raised, moved onto two barges and transported to Providence with four tugboats moving the barges. The operation took a full week, and Steere was there for the entire process as Mammoet, a Dutch company specializing in moving huge objects, brought the structure to its permanent home.

The finished bridge is in keeping with the revitalized city of Providence, where the waterfront is the focal point for residents and tourists alike, Steere says. “We wanted the bridge to be not only functional in terms of transporting people across the river, but also inviting, because it serves as an entrance to downtown Providence,” she says.

Working in a small state like Rhode Island is no strain for Steere, who is originally from Delaware. She and the other five Dressel siblings—Rick, AS ’76; Marguerite (known as Moe), CHEP ’77; Mike, AG ’78, ’81M; Steve, BE ’81; and Pete, AS ’84, ’89M—all earned degrees at UD, but Patty was the only one to follow in their father’s footsteps and become a civil engineer.

“I had no idea what I wanted to do, but an aptitude test suggested that engineering might be a good fit,” she says.

The aptitude test apparently was accurate, and civil engineering has turned out to be a very good career choice for Steere. She is married to a civil engineer, and the two share both a vocation and an avocation. They recently joined an urban search-and-rescue team that needed structural engineers to complement the expertise of emergency medical personnel for disaster-related problems.

Steere says she’s not pushing any of her three kids to study engineering. Instead, she says, she’s hoping that they all follow their own interests, as she, and her siblings did at UD, where each chose a different major ranging from accounting and animal science to education, geology and psychology.

—Diane Kukich, AS ’73, ’84M