UMaine Pier Design Wins National Timber Bridge Award
Contact: Roberta Laverty (207) 581-2110; David Munson (207) 581-3777
ORONO, Maine – The Milbridge Pier, an innovative timber pier designed at UMaine’s Advanced Engineered Wood Composites Center, has recently been named one of America’s best timber bridges.
The annual award, sponsored by the American Institute of Timber Construction, APA — The Engineered Wood Association, the U.S. Forest Service and Roads and Bridges Magazine, highlights the elegance, strength, economy and historical role of timber bridges and piers.
The Milbridge Pier, located at the mouth of the Narraguagas River, serves the town of Milbridge in its commercial fishing and recreational boating and fishing activities. The L-shaped, 167-foot long pier was constructed using an innovative fiber-reinforced polymer technology developed in the AEWC laboratories and is the world’s longest engineered wood pier.
Opened for use in June of 2001, the pier features a system of panels which were designed and fabricated in the AEWC labs on the UMaine campus. The panel system delivers strength equal to concrete but weighs 66% less, thus allowing for more efficient and economical construction.
AEWC Center Director Habib Dagher and Civil and Environmental Engineering graduate student Melanie Bragdon were the principal designers and engineers on the award-winning project. The project was funded by the Federal Highway Administration, the Maine Department of Transportation, the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development and the Town of Milbridge.