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American Bridge says it is a vertically integrated construction, engineering and manufacturing firm with operations throughout the United States and abroad.

The company specializes in the manufacture, erection and rehabilitation of complex bridges and other structures. It says it also has strong marine and building construction capability, including ports and their associated infrastructure and buildings, military construction and underwater and heavy concrete construction.

“The company has a highly focused business-development strategy,” American Bridge says. “The most attractive prospects are those that afford cost advantage to innovative construction methods.

“[American Bridge] uses specialized in-house engineering to develop unique equipment and methods that drive down the cost of complex structures and marine projects.”

The company says it takes and pursues projects as a prime contractor, design/build contractor, joint-venture partner, specialty subcontractor or for material supply only. American Bridge also excels at the construction and rehabilitation of cable-supported bridges, movable bridges, steel truss bridges, steel and concrete arch bridges, heavy marine works, military and government buildings and security infrastructure, and any other type of project that benefits from advanced construction engineering skills.

“The company owns and designs equipment for a wide variety of specialized erection tasks,” it adds.

100-plus Years of Innovation
American Bridge was founded in 1900 through the JP Morgan-led consolidation of 28 of the nation’s largest steel fabricators and constructors, according to the company.

The company’s roots extend to the late 1860s, when one of the consolidated firms, Keystone Bridge Works, constructed the first steel bridge over the Mississippi River, the Eads Bridge in St. Louis, which is still in use today.

In 1901, the company says, it became a subsidiary of the newly consolidated steel trust United States Steel Corp. It remained a subsidiary until 1987, and has been privately owned since that time. “While American Bridge’s roots in steel fabrication and construction remain a strength today, the company developed broad-based contracting resources to service customers’ complex project needs right from its inception,” American Bridge says.

“Some of AB’s most notable projects are more a testament to construction engineering know-how and management abilities than to its historical strength in steel construction.”

The company says it pioneered the use of steel as a construction material, developing the means and methods for fabrication and construction that allowed it to be widely used in buildings, bridges, vessels and other plate applications.

“As a result, and due to its deep financial resources, American Bridge operated on a national and international scale from the moment of its inception,” American Bridge adds.

Unique Equipment and Methods
American Bridge says it uses specialized in-house engineering to develop unique equipment and methods that drive down the cost of complex structures and marine projects.

Engineers are supported by a library of more than 100 years of project specific equipment designs and methodologies, one of the largest such resources in the world.

The company also says it owns designs and equipment for a wide variety of specialized erection tasks, such as suspension bridge, cable stay bridge, arch bridge, truss bridge, movable bridge construction and marine construction.

The international sector of American Bridge undertakes complex projects outside of the United States, the company says. American Bridge says it has worked internationally nearly continuously since its foundation in 1900.

The group has undertaken projects in more than 60 countries in North America, South and Central America, Europe, Asia and Africa.

The group specializes in suspension, arch, movable, truss, cable stay and other complex structures. Projects are usually undertaken in joint venture with other international contractors and/or local partners. The group performs under concession, design/build, general contract, subcontract and consulting-type contracts.

Manufacturing Operations
American Bridge Manufacturing (ABM) fabricates structural steel for bridges and industrial uses, the company says. The company operates from two modern facilities located on the Ohio River near Pittsburgh and on the Umpqua River in Reedsport, Ore.

“ABM specializes in high man-hour-per-ton manufacturing, producing products for the repair and rehabilitation of steel bridges, steel grid bridge deck products, complex new bridges and industrial structural fabrications,” American Bridge says. “The company also provides steel detailing services for in-house and for outside customers.”

ABM purchased a 32-acre parcel of property on the Ohio River in Coraopolis, Pa., in 1997, and the first phase of construction was completed in 1999, according to American Bridge.

The facility operates from a modern 700- by 120-foot fabrication shop and a 30,000-square-foot sandblast and paint building.

The company’s West Coast fabrication facility, completed in April 2003, is located on a 40-acre site in Reedsport, and includes a 48,000-square-foot high-bay fabrication building, a 12,000-square-foot paint building and a 7,200-square-foot engineering building.     

Both facilities are AISC certified for complex bridges, with fracture critical and paint endorsement, the company adds.

American Bridge says its products from the 1900 to 1980 era of large-scale fabrication are visible throughout the United States and in more than 60 countries. “These structures, including the San Francisco Bay Bridge, the Empire State Building and the Sears Tower, stand as testimony to the strength of the company’s organization, the quality of its personnel and product, integrity of business practice, and competitiveness driven by manufacturing innovation,” American Bridge says.

By the 1980s, the nation-building scale of American Bridge’s fabrication operations were out of tune with the markets in a country whose initial massive push of coast-to-coast development was now complete, the company says. Its 13 fabricating plants were shut down, and it was spun off from its parent, United States Steel Corp., in 1987.

“It has continued to thrive as a contractor of complex structures, and added marine and civil capabilities along the way,” American Bridge says.

Marine and Facilities
The marine and facilities sector constructs ports and their associated buildings and security infrastructure, military and government buildings, and all manner of underwater, civil infrastructure and heavy concrete construction, American Bridge says. About two-thirds of this sector’s contracts are design/build, the company adds.

The marine and facilities sector self-performs pile driving and foundation works of all types, including precast, prestressed concrete; steel pipe, concrete cylinder, drilled shafts, steel sheetpile and caissons. The group says it also self-performs concrete works including segmental and box girder construction, and minor dredging and site work.

Building projects have included hangars, missile launch complexes, engine test stands, government operations buildings and data centers, port administration and security buildings, and themed retail construction associated with cruise ship berthing facilities, the company adds.