Inside Civil Engineering: The Bridge Designer’s Role in Safe Travel

Yeah, it's one of the most stable jobs.
Depending on all the crisis and stuff, you still need to have some working bridges or some working buildings or like roads and infrastructures.
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Today our guest is a bridge designer, Anthony, who is from Canada and he's French.
Hi.
How are you?
Thank you for doing it.
So tell me exactly what is a bridge designer.
Basically, I produced the plans and the specification for construction company to build on the project and to start building bridges.
When we spoke about it, you told me there is a lot of work in it.
And I'm curious, most bridges I thought were already designed and built.
How come there's so much work in this field?
All your bridges in your country they need to be replaced at some point.
And so constantly there's like work to be to be performed on them, to be done.
But there's like I don't know, that's like not even 1% of all the bridges that exist in the US.
It's like 99.9% are like no-name bridges, that's just uh a series of numbers, and like they're just super useful for everyone, like just to get from point A to point B.
But they're like just no-name and like small and like uh okay, but they're already built.
Do we need more?
Oh yeah.
But they were already they're all built, and they were built in the 60s, the 70s, and uh they need to be replaced at some point or repaired.
Every bridge needs to be replaced at some point?
Yeah, because when you uh build a bridge, when you design a bridge, you design it for 75 years precisely.
So there's like a countdown when you build it, you're like, okay, this bridge it will last.
Well, usually you repair it, so it lasts more like a hundred years, usually.
Do they still design bridge to just last 75 years?
Yeah, yeah.
Why?
That's that's our criteria.
It's like a complex set of uh probability, like probability of failure and like cost effectiveness of uh build of building a bridge.
So if you build a bridge for 200 years, it will cost so much money, nobody will build it.
Yeah, it's one of the most stable jobs like you can have.
Civil engineering in general is super stable, like like depending on all the crisis and stuff, you still need to have some working bridges or some working buildings or like I don't know, roads and infrastructures.
Who would be good to go into bridge designing?
Uh people that uh firstly are good at math, good at I don't know, uh logic reasoning and like I mean civil engineering in general, it's not a super trendy sort of jobs.
Uh it's really old school, it's like one of the first few jobs that existed in the world, I think.
Like people needed to go from point A to point B and like build roads or like build a bridge across just a small creek or small river.
So it's more people that see a purpose like greater than making a ton of money, you know.
It's a purpose like okay, I'm helping society directly.
Let me ask you the question: how much money can you make doing this?
You can start like uh I can say in Canadians because I know in Canadians, like and you can start usually at uh 70,000 a year.
Like you need a master usually.
Master in civil engineering?
Yeah, it's usually required.
And uh I mean like uh after 10-15 years, I think you can go to uh 150,000 or more.
And if you go the more the project manager route in bridge engineering, you can go like uh even more.
And if you start your own like private company, like uh the sky's the limit.
What would you say is the most rewarding thing about the job?
I think it's when you've worked month and month on uh on designing a bridge, like it's in your mind, it's on your 3D model, it's on your spreadsheets, you have everything planned out, like the dimensions, the rebars, everything.
And I'm not at that stage yet.
Next year, my first bridge will be uh like uh built.
Oh wow! And so but I've read from uh experienced engineers like the the best part of the job is when it's being built and when it's finished, like the the feeling you have of it like standing and being useful immediately and like for eight years or more, like 75 years minimum.
That's rocketer, but usually more.
That's that's I think uh that will be a great feeling for me uh next year.
Like uh do you feel safe when you drive on bridges in America?
Yeah, because I know like people back in the days they over-designed it like a lot because they didn't know precisely how like the strength would behave or the bridge would behave.
So they're like, oh, let's put like just two more inches of concrete there, like more rebar there.
So usually they're they're pretty safe to drive.
So they say it's for 75 years, but it's really for 78 years.
Well, yeah, or more.
But you you need to maintain it, and that's a big problem because like in the past 40-50 years, like nobody would maintain their bridges, like the states, the DOTs, like uh.
So that's why now there's even more work than what it was supposed to be.
Uh recently I saw online a picture of a bridge being built in China that is so high.
Are they like the leading in this industry?
China, they are crazy with their bridges.
Like you see the Wikipedia page of like uh like the all the best, not not the best bridges, but like the record like span length, and I don't know, like the crazy type of obscure bridges that they are trying.
And it's mostly in China.
Like, I don't know how they do it, but like they they have plenty of cool uh bridges uh they do like they have super wide rivers there, so they they have to to get creative with their bridges.
Is there anybody of water or river that you would love to design a bridge for?
I think there's two, but it's it captivates the mind of all bridge engineers, I think.
Which are it's uh a bridge between Spain and Morocco, like uh Gibraltar Detroit.
And uh yeah, the one that everyone wants to do, and like oh, they haven't made it yet.
It's like a bridge between Russia and uh and the US in Alaska.
It's like the Bering Detroit.
And yeah, like plenty of people have designed like possible bridges that could work, but there's no demand for it.
Like, and it will cost so much money, like uh it's uh it's nonsense for now.
I would actually see Spain to Morocco, Gibraltar would be a good thing, but probably the ferry company will not want people to do that.
Yeah, that's plenty of politics when it's an international bridge, and like I don't know, there's already a service going on, it's like such a hassle.
It's not it's not about the engineering, like we can do anything in engineering, it's more mostly politic, like uh choice and election and stuff like this that uh dictates uh new bridges.
Which bridge do you most admire and wish you were the designer of?
I think the Golden Gate Bridge.
Why it's really iconic, and I think it made me want to become a bridge engineer.
Like seeing it, it's like a work of art in a way.
And like the French way we call my job is is uh pont et ouvrage d'art.
And ouvrage d'art is literally a work of art, artwork, and it's I don't know, it's pretty and uh well Anthony.
I can't thank you enough.
This is fascinating.
I had no idea that it's actually I thought architects build bridges.
Yeah, it's kind of a mix, but usually more engineering.
It makes sense that I would like an engineer to build, and not an architect, actually.
Well, thank you very much.
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