A team of U of T students earned second-place recognition at the annual Troitsky Bridge Building Competition this year. A recent scoring amendment brought the team their delayed recognition.
Held annually at Concordia University in Montreal since 1984, this year’s February 21-24 event attracted 33 teams from 11 Canadian universities. U of T fielded seven teams, the largest delegation overall, with each constructing a bridge model made of only popsicle sticks, glue and floss.
Testing was performed of each entry’s strength using a hydraulic press. Besides the ability to take a load, scoring for the event is also based upon structural efficiency (maximum load divided by the bridge weight), presentation score (to a panel of industry professionals and faculty) and team spirit.
Team captain Isabelle Ali (Year 3 CivE) remarks, “I’m very happy with how well we were able to perform across all the categories.” Continuing, “Our team’s I-beam design was a reflection of what we learned from past competitions. This year, we focused on optimizing the joints since the bridge had to be built in pieces before being assembled in Montreal.”
The group used the theme of Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax while calling their team Thneed for Speed. The 2025 second-place showing is the best since a 2020 first-place result for a U of T team.
