USI ‘Engineers in Action’ prepare for two pedestrian bridge builds in 2025
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(photo courtesy of the University of Southern Indiana)
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(photo courtesy of the University of Southern Indiana)
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(photo courtesy of the University of Southern Indiana)
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(photo courtesy of the University of Southern Indiana)
The University of Southern Indiana’s Engineers in Action chapter is planning for two pedestrian bridge builds next year after leading a similar project in southern Africa this past summer. In June, four USI students along with Dr. Susan Ely, assistant professor of engineering, traveled to Eswatini to build a footbridge in the Lubombo region.
“[The students] take all the most senior roles,” said Ely. “Our project manager, the construction manager, design responsibilities, quality control, those were all roles held by USI. We did travel with two other institutions, the University of Iowa and two students who were tagging along from Eastern Mennonite University. Everybody on site had a role to play, but all of the leadership roles were held by USI, and we guided the process.”
The goal of the eight-week project was to ensure safe passage over a waterway for local residents who couldn’t travel to school, work or other places during monsoon season.
“This bridge was in the southern area of the country, a very mountainous area where a river, which was still deep during dry season, reached catastrophic flood levels in the rainy season. On one side of the river were the school, the church, the stores, the medical clinic. On the other side of the bridge, it’s an agricultural society. They grow crops and raise livestock. There’s little infrastructure there,” Ely said.
Since 2019, USI has sent student engineering teams to Eswatini, Bolivia and West Virginia for pedestrian bridge builds. Ely said USI got involved with the national EIA organization about six years ago.
“One of our civil engineering faculty members had just learned about the organization and thought it would be a neat opportunity for our students to get connected,” said Ely. “We started as a tag along, just sending two students along on a bridge build and have continued every year since then.”
The Lubombo project
The Lubombo project was USI’s fifth footbridge and the largest build to date at 108 meters (about 355 feet) in length. Throughout the school year, students checked in with professional engineers multiple times about their design, logistics and preparation for the international build.
“The designing and planning of the project equates to the workload of one of the college’s engineering courses,” Ely said in a news release.
Electrical engineering majors Melanie Cedeno, Miguel Pinto and Josiah Hollis were project manager, cultural relations manager and construction manager, respectively. Cedeno received the EIA’s “Builder of the Year” award and was hired to become an EIA fellow in Eswatini after she graduated USI.
Jonas Hollis, a manufacturing engineering major, was quality manager on the summer project.
“Some of the main jobs I had was I needed to make sure the concrete mixture was always the right ratio because it was all hand mixed on site,” said Jonas Hollis. “I also went around the abutments, which were the towers that the bridge was going to be going down from, and I had to make sure there was not a big gap between stones.”
One of the challenges of the Lubombo project was ensuring the sustainability and longevity of the pedestrian bridge because of its location.
“The community is pretty far from EIA’s headquarters. You have to make sure everything’s as good as you can possibly get it, so EIA doesn’t have to come out all the time,” said Jonas Hollis. “We’re trying to make the bridge last for at least 75 years, if not 100.”
Impact on community, USI students
EIA’s mission is to build critical infrastructure in underserved communities, including access to clean water and bridges. Safety was the primary driver in the Lubombo bridge build.
“Last year, 11 children died crossing the river during the rainy season trying to get to school,” said Ely. “This is a recurring problem for communities to not be able to access critical needs during that rainy season.”
The USI engineering team also received on-the-job training that is difficult to replicate in the classroom.
“I had a bit of engineering classes before then, but this was very big. I learned a lot on this trip,” said Jonas Hollis. “We had 100 people on site some days. It was amazing. There was so much community involvement.”
Ely said the experience allowed USI’s engineering students to see the impact of their work firsthand. More than 1,800 children and 4,000 residents were affected by the bridge build.
“When you’re working in an office, when you’re working in a large production area, when you’re doing development work, it can feel distant from the end user. In this project, they’re working beside the end user every day,” she said.
Previous footbridge builds
The Lubombo project was the third pedestrian bridge build for Pinto and Josiah Hollis. Their first project was a 105-meter bridge spanning an 80-foot gorge in Japo, Bolivia.
“We worked with Duke University. They were a strong team but also a young team with freshmen and sophomores. Our team was also young, so we both were learning. Now Duke and USI are very strong teams in the whole organization,” Pinto said.
Pinto was project manager for his second build, which was a 75-meter footbridge in the Hhohho region of Eswatini.
“We had a lot of people, like 40 people every day. We stayed with a big family, and they were a great family,” said Pinto. “The second year, it was culturally beautiful. But our work, it was hard.”
Pinto was in charge of the cultural relations during his first and third pedestrian bridge builds. His 2024 experience was the most enjoyable.
“I knew what to expect. Even though all the bridges are not the same, every time they’re different, there is some stuff that is the same,” Pinto said. “Sometimes it was difficult, especially at the end when people were tired, they didn’t want to work, so we needed to give them motivation with music, food and dances. Inspiring them to finish it, to push a little bit more.”
2025 projects
In 2025, Ely said, for the first time, USI will send two teams to Africa for footbridge builds. One of the projects will be a tag along with Cornell University, while the main project will be led by USI again.
“It’s another eight-week build with three institutions. So it’s another large build. It may even be longer than this one,” Ely said.
Details for both projects are being finalized. However, Ely said Jonas Hollis will be the project manager for the USI-led bridge build, and the rest of the team will be formed in the near future.
“We had three seniors on our last team, so we’re bringing in some more underclassmen to the team to start learning those positions,” she said.
The USI Foundation pays for the EIA chapter’s trips and makes it possible for students to build pedestrian bridges. Ely encourages anyone interested in supporting the initiative to donate to the nonprofit organization.
“It’s based on the generosity of others that we’re able to do this sort of activity. We’re thankful for all the individuals that help fund these operations so that we’re able to go do this and make a difference,” said Ely.