American Bridge Company
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| American Bridge Company, Inc.
<tr><td colspan="2" style="text-align:center; padding:16px 0 16px 0;">Image:AmericanBridgeCompanyLogo.jpg</td></tr> | |
| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1900 |
| Headquarters | Coraopolis, Pennsylvania
<tr><th style="text-align:right; padding-right:0.75em;">Key people</th><td>Robert H. (Bob) Luffy, President and CEO |
The American Bridge Company is a privately held civil engineering firm specializing in the construction and renovation of bridges and other large civil engineering projects, founded in 1900, and headquartered in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh.
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[edit] Products and Industry Positioning
The firm has built many bridges in the U.S. and elsewhere, with Historic American Engineering Record this listing (at the Library of Congress) noting at least 81. A partial listing of projects is below. The firm is listed as the builder of a project but may not necessarily be (and usually is not) the designer. In most cases the bridge designer or building architect does not get to select the construction company, he designs it but then bids are let by the owners/developers. The designer and the contractor have to subsequently work together closely to get the job done.
American Bridge has also been involved in significant building construction projects such as the Sears Tower, the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building, as well as in other structural projects such as launch pads and resorts.
Significant competitors include Walsh Group, Flatiron Construction, and Skanska USA.
Related companies include American Bridge Holding Company and American Bridge Manufacturing Company, both also headquartered in Coraopolis.
[edit] History
American Bridge Company was founded in April 1900, through the JP Morgan-led consolidation of 28 of the largest United States based steel fabricators and constructors. The company’s roots extend to the late 1860’s, when one of the consolidated firms, Keystone Bridge Works, constructed the Eads Bridge, the first steel bridge over the Mississippi River, at St. Louis which is still in use today. Shortly thereafter, in 1902, the company became a subsidiary of United States Steel as part of the Steel Trust consolidation. It went private in 1987.
The company has a long and storied history. While AB’s roots in steel fabrication and construction remain a strength today, the company developed broad based contracting and management resources to service complex project needs. Some of AB’s most notable projects are more a testament to construction engineering know how and management abilities than to its historical strength in steel construction. The company pioneered the use of steel as a construction material; developing the means & methods for fabrication and construction that allowed it to be widely used in buildings, bridges, vessels, and other plate applications. As a result, and due to its deep financial resources, AB has operated on a national and international scale from the moment of its inception.
AB produced a number of ships for the United States Navy as part of the war effort during World War II. The town of Ambridge, Pennsylvania was an AB Company town and is near their current headquarters of Coraopolis, Pennsylvania. Both municipalities are located on the Ohio River near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with access to many steel suppliers, as well as to waterborne and rail transport, to allow shipment of components and subassemblies.
[edit] Notable projects
[edit] Bridges
- Constructed three of America’s most notable suspension bridges
- San Francisco Bay Bridge, Oakland, California (1936)
- Mackinac Bridge, Mackinac Straits, Michigan (1957)
- Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, New York Harbor (1964)
- Constructed the longest concrete segmental cable stay bridge in the United States
- Sunshine Skyway Bridge, Tampa Bay, Florida (1986)
- Constructed the longest suspension bridge in South America, and one of the longest in Europe.
- Orinoco Bridge, Venezuela (1967)
- 25th of April Bridge, Lisbon, Portugal (1966)
- Constructed the world's longest arch bridge on three occasions.
- New River Gorge Bridge, West Virginia, 1977, 518 meters, (1,700’)
- Bayonne Bridge, Staten Island-New Jersey, 1932, 504 meters (1,652’)
- Hell Gate Bridge, New York City, 1916, 298 meters (978’)
- Constructed the world’s longest self-supporting continuous truss bridge.
- Astoria Bridge, Oregon, 1966, 376 meters (1,232’)
- Significant renovations of existing bridges
- Relocation of an existing Norfolk Southern vertical lift bridge from Florence, Alabama to Hannibal, Missouri (1995)
- First ever aerial spinning for additional main cables on a loaded, fully operational suspension bridge. 25th of April Bridge in Lisbon, Portugal (1998)
- First ever stiffening truss replacement on a loaded, fully operational suspension bridge. Lions Gate Bridge, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (2001)
[edit] Buildings
- Constructed the world’s tallest building on numerous occasions.
- Sears Tower, Chicago, 1974, 443 meters (1,454’)
- Empire State Building, New York City, 1932, 381 meters (1,250’)
- Chrysler Building, New York City, 1931, 319 meters (1,046’)
- Woolworth Building, New York City, 1913, 241 meters (792’)
- Constructed many other well known buildings.
- John Hancock Center, Chicago (and in Boston)
- Aon Center (formerly Standard Oil), Chicago
- Columbia Seafirst Center, Seattle
- Erected the world’s largest building by volume twice.
- Vehicle Assembly Building, Kennedy Space Center, 1964
- Boeing 747 Assembly Building, Everett, Washington, 1974
- Constructed two of the most notable domed stadium structures in the world
- Louisiana Superdome, 1974
- Houston Astrodome, 1964
- US Steel Building, 1960
[edit] Miscellaneous
- Space launch complex jacking for McDonnell Douglas Astronautics (now Boeing) (1994)
- Creation of a resort from scratch (including all infrastructure) for Walt Disney Company in the Bahamas (1998)
[edit] External links
[edit] Company information
[edit] Projects and history
- HAER record of at least 81 ABC bridges/projects
- American Bridge Company Chronological history from the company site
- Old Economy Village history page with American Bridge Company history.
| Pittsburgh-based Corporations (Within the Pittsburgh Metro Area) |
|---|
| Pittsburgh-based Fortune 500 Corporations: Alcoa | U.S. Steel | PPG | H.J. Heinz | PNC Financial | Mellon Financial | WESCO International |
| Pittsburgh-based Fortune 1000 Corporations: Allegheny Energy | Consol Energy | Allegheny Technologies | Dick's Sporting Goods | Kennametal | American Eagle Outfitters | Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel | Mylan |
| Pittsburgh-based Forbes Largest Private Companies: 84 Lumber | GNC | Giant Eagle | Sheetz |
| Externally owned, regionally based, and other Pittsburgh corporations: American Bridge | Ampco Pittsburgh | Bayer USA | Calgon Carbon | Dollar Bank | DQE Holdings | Eat'n Park | Federated Investors | FedEx Ground | GlaxoSmithKline | Guru.com | Highmark | iGate | Koppers | Michael Baker | Mine Safety Appliances | NOVA Chemicals | Oxford Development | Pittsburgh Brewing Company | Respironics | rue21 | University of Pittsburgh Medical Center | Vivisimo | Wabtec |
