Vance, West Virginia, USA

The Vance West Virginia Vehicular Bridge Project was a two-week long bridge construction project in collaboration with the Rutgers University Engineers in Action chapter and the Mennonite Disaster Service. We sent six of our students, along with four Rutgers University students, to build a 32-foot long vehicular bridge to replace one damaged in the 2016 West Virginia floods.

As soon as we arrived at the construction site on the first day, we introduced ourselves to the community that the bridge serviced. They were extremely welcoming to us throughout the project and visited us frequently, even making us lunch on two separate occasions. When we were taking a break or sitting around waiting for something to set, they would often come sit with us and tell us their stories, opening up our eyes to their way of life.

The bridge construction itself went very smoothly, with all ten of us learning and contributing to the workload. Many of us went from not even knowing how to properly use a hammer to being proficient with tools like a nail gun in the time we were there. When things didn’t go to plan, we worked together as a team and found creative ways to work through the challenges. Throughout the two weeks, we were visited by several engineers who all brought along their knowledge and incredible stories. They answered our questions and taught us about bridge design as we were going through each step of construction. Some of them came for quality control and some came out of curiosity, but all of them were talked into at least one intense game of spikeball.

When we weren’t working, we also explored the beautiful nearby attractions recommended by the locals. We visited the Monongahela National Forest, the New River Gorge Bridge, Beauty Mountain, and some of us even went swimming in the Elk River. One of the locals took us to visit his farm and let us feed his cows and pick wild blackberries.

On the last day, we finished cleaning up the site, and said our goodbyes to all the community members. At their request, all of us signed the bridge, and some of us made promises to return and visit. On our last night in West Virginia, we visited Charleston, where we had dinner together one last time and watched the sun set from the Southside Bridge.

In spite of our diverse background or experience, this bridge was an unforgettable experience for all of us. I know every single one of us can easily say that we’ve learned more about construction and bridges in these two weeks than we ever learned from our classes. We walked away from this project with new engineering and construction knowledge, but more importantly with new friends and stories to tell.