Civil Engineering team places third in national Popsicle Stick Bridge Building Competition

BCIT Civil Engineering students' Popsicle stick bridge

What would you do with 10,000 Popsicle sticks, four kilometres of dental floss, and gallons of glue? If you’re an engineering student, you build a model bridge.

That’s what a group of BCIT Civil Engineering students did at the 28th Annual Troitsky Popsicle Stick Bridge Building Competition, held March 5 at Montreal’s Concordia University.

This was the first year BCIT has entered the major national competition. Despite competing against 36 other schools from the US and Canada, the BCIT team took third place. Their bridge withstood a load of 2,091 kg while weighing only 5.9 kg.

The BCIT Civil Engineering Popsicle Bridge Competition team in Montreal.

With such success, “we are hoping to continue the tradition and send more teams next year,” says team member Kevin Grant.

Check out what goes into model bridge building with this CBC report from Bob Nixon.