The 29th International Bridge Conference (IBC) was held in Laurence Convention center of Pittsburgh, the City of Bridges, Pennsylvania, the United States, from June 10 to 13, 2012. The theme of the conference is “The Sky is the Limit”. More than 1500 experts and scholars in the field of bridges construction from around the world attending the meeting, including CAE Member Qin Shunquan, Chief Engineer of the China Railway Major Bridge Engineering Group Co., Ltd (MBEC).

At the awarding ceremony for bridge technology prizes held on the afternoon of June 12th, Nanjing Dashengguan Yangtze River Bridge, built by MBEC, was conferred the George Richardson Award. Presenters of the award introduced the special characteristics for its design and construction, as well as its international reputation and influences, praising that “This is a unique bridge that is 3.6 km in length and carries 6 rail lines, with trains on it running up to the speed of 300 km per hour. This is an incomparable feat! It’s a miracle!” Mr. Thomas Ridge, Chairman of the conference, issued the prize medal to CAE Member Qin Shunquan.

IBC is held annually, enjoying prestigious reputation in the international bridge community. Conference attendees have the opportunity to participate in technical sessions, workshops, special interest sessions and seminars. IBC annually attracts over 1,600 bridge owners and engineers, senior policy makers, government officials, bridge designers, construction executives, and suppliers from throughout the US and abroad. Topics addressed this year during the conference included design, rehabilitation, construction, research, inspection, and rehabilitation of bridges. IBC covers sections like specialized paper publication, special theme exhibition as well as the awarding ceremony for various bridge technology prizes. A total of 7 bridge technology prizes were set for IBC, including 5 engineering technology prizes such as the George Richardson Award, the Gustavus Lindeensi Award, the Eugene Figo Award, etc, as well as Lifetime Achievement Award and Outstanding Student Paper Award. Among the 7 prizes, George Richardson Award enjoys the longest history and greatest impacts, and is conferred to one bridge project annually in recognition of its remarkable achievements in bridge design, construction and scientific researches. After Wuhan Tianxingzhou Yangtze River bridge won this award in 2010, the fact that MBEC was honored with such award at such a short interval (which is pretty rare in the history of the George Richardson Award), well demonstrates China’s first-class bridge construction capabilities to the world.

During his stay in the United States, not only did Qin carry out heated discussions with the Organizing Committee of IBC as well as other experts, Qin also talked with certain enterprise representatives. In addition, Qin went to the University of Tennessee upon invitation and gave an academic report entitled “Bridges in China: Present and Future” to staff and students from its School of Engineering. A lot of interactive efforts were made, and the report was very well received by the audience. (By Ye Qinghan, June 2012; translated by Liu Chang)