ASCE Bridge Florida 2026

Overview

The ASCE Bridge Florida Competition is a free annual engineering competition for high school and middle school students in Florida. The purpose of the contest is to stimulate interest in math, science, and engineering through a realistic, hands-on engineering design experience.

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You will be given from April 6, 2026, to April 24, 2026, to complete the design of your bridge. The bridge that safely carries the design load with the lowest final cost wins. Designs will not be accepted after April 24, 2026. Site condition 88A must be used to design your bridge (See below for directions). The final bridge design must
be sent to the following email address for scoring: pastpresident@ascespacecoast.org.

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Please include 2026 SCB Bridge Florida Competition *Team Name* and your team name in the email subject line of the email.

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The top 3 teams for high school and middle school will be announced by May 4, 2026. Awards will be presented to the winning entries. Please email questions to pastpresident@ascespacecoast.org.

 

Ties will be broken based on time of delivery.

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Test & Grading Conditions

• Objective

  • Design a bridge in the designated software that can safely carry a 225 kN two-lane truck load.

• Structural Soundness (Pass/Fail)

  • Each design must demonstrate safe load-carrying capacity under the 225 kN truck load.

  • “Safe” means no critical failures or excessive deflection under load per standard engineering checks within the software.

• Cost Evaluation

  • Only bridges that pass the structural check are considered for cost evaluation.

  • The lowest total cost (as indicated by the software’s cost metrics) wins.

  • In the event of a tie, judges may consider secondary factors (e.g., aesthetic design or material efficiency).

 

Official Rules

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 Eligibility 

To compete in the ASCE Bridge Florida Competition, you must be either:

• a student in grades 6-12, currently enrolled in a school located within the state of Florida; or

• a student who is legally home-schooled, studying at the 6th-12th grade level, and living within the State of Florida.

 

Contest Categories

You will compete in one of two contest categories, depending on your current grade level:

• Middle School Category | Grades 6-8

• High School Category |  Grades 9-12

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Teams

You may compete individually or in teams of two members each. Competing in teams of two is strongly encouraged. There is no limit on the number of teams from a given school.

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Prizes

The minimum monetary award levels at the Space Coast Branch local competition are:

• Junior Division | 1st Place - $100 | 2nd Place - $50 | 3rd Place - $25

• Senior Division | 1st Place - $100 | 2nd Place - $50 | 3rd Place - $25

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The minimum monetary award levels at the Florida Section competition are:

• Junior Division | 1st Place - $1,000 | 2nd Place - $300 | 3rd Place - $200

• Senior Division | 1st Place - $1,100 | 2nd Place - $400 | 3rd Place - $300

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The only mandatory rule is the age/eligibility requirement. *These prizes are subject to change*

 

The Florida Section Competition will have two divisions.  The Junior Division is for grades 6-8.  The Senior Division is for grades 9-12.  Contestants may compete individually or in teams of two members.

 

The winning contestant/team will be invited to attend the Florida Section ASCE
competition on Friday, July 24, 2026, in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. If the winner is not
available to attend, the second-place contestant/team or third place team will be
invited to represent the ASCE Space Coast Branch.

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The ASCE Bridge Florida Competition is a free internet-based engineering competition for high school and middle school students in Florida. 

 

How to Enter

To enter the ASCE Bridge Florida Competition:

• Download Instructions

• #1 – Open the “Cloud Edition” of the Bridge Designer Program by navigating to: https://gene-ressler.github.io/bridge-designer/app/ on your internet browser. You will see the “Design tip of the day” popup, you may read the tips by clicking next, to begin your design please click “Close”.

• ​#2- Select “Create a new bridge design” and click “OK”

• #3- Read the Design Requirement and select Next

• #4 - Select Yes for local contest and specify the following 6 digit contest code: SCB88A. (Site Condition 88A). Click Next.

• #5 –Verify your Site Condition is 88A, look on the bottom right part of the screen and it will have your site condition. You may use templates or create an original design. Click Finish, design your bridge.

• #6 – Saving your bridge.

• Once you have created your lowest cost bridge, click file then save as, save this file and attach this in an email and send it to pastpresident@ascespacecoast.org for submission.

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Please include the following in your submission email:

To: pastpresident@ascespacecoast.org

CC: Put Your Teachers Email address here

Email Subject Line: 2026 SCB Bridge Florida Competition *Team Name*

Body of Email: Name of teacher (teachers email), Cost of Bridge ($$), Grade, Team Name, Names of Team Members

Email Attachment: Please use the naming format provided: Cost_Teacher_Team Name_Grade

 

Example :

Subject: 2026 SCB Bridge Florida Competition *Team Name*

Body: Mrs. Williams (Williams@brevardschools.org), $110,000, 9th Grade, Bridge Blasters, John Smith and Robert Johnson

Attachment: Cost_Teacher_Team Name_Grade

 

For example: Team Robot is submitting a bridge that costs $110,000 and they are in 9th grade from Mr. Rogers Class.

You would name your attachment: 110000_Rogers_Robot_9.bdc

 

*Please Note* Do not submit from a Brevard Public Schools Email Address, as we will not be able to contact you back. Please use a personal, or your guardians, email address.

 

You may now begin the competition.  Good Luck!!

 

Schedule

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Important Deadlines

• April 24th, 2026 | Local Branch Competitions/Design Entries

• June 2026 | Student registrations for State event due (Eligible for winners of local competitions) 

• July 2026 | ASCE Florida Section competition

• August 2026 | Distribution of prizes from the ASCE Florida Section

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