Foothills Bridge Co

Meet Sean Brown, a Project EIT new to our team!

Originally from Wisconsin and a graduate of the , Sean began his career in California working for a contractor on large-scale civil engineering projects. He brings valuable field experience and a contractor’s perspective to our team here in Colorado.

Outside of the office, Sean can usually be found in the mountains, often accidentally taking the “scenic route” on his mountain bike and discovering new trails the hard way.

Foothills has worked on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge more than just about any other bridge. When a replacement bridge for the eastern spans opened on Labor Day 2013, our work shifted from retrofitting and replacing different parts of the structure to a season of complex bridge dismantling. One highlight from this season was February 5, 2016, when the first 504 ft span was lowered with strand jacks to a pair of barges and transported offsite for dismantling. Thanks to great collaboration with our partners at California Engineering Contractors, Inc., , , , and , the lowering went off without a hitch and was repeated on four more 504 ft spans.

The decade spanning from 2010–2020 featured many strand jack lowering operations for Foothills Bridge Co. While the Goethals Bridge suspended span was one of the lighter structures on that list, the project and the operation presented unique challenges. Thanks to excellent ex*****on from demolition subcontractor and the prime contractor joint venture / / , the operation was completed successfully. Recalling the (miserably) cold temperatures of that memorable January 2018 all-night operation, we hope our future collaborations allow for slightly warmer weather!

Teaching the next generation about the joys and wonders of bridge engineering is something we feel passionate about. Mentoring, judging engineering project competitions, and classroom lessons are just some of the ways we do that throughout the year.

This time, Maura Knutson was able to give a lesson to her son's class. The class has 1st through 3rd grade students, who listened to a short presentation on bridge engineering and then had a chance to build their own bridge models. She highlighted FBC's involvement in the recent lowering operation on Harbor Bridge and reminded the kids that you can't always blow the bridge up. They had excellent questions and ideas, and set to work making their own bridge creations. Maybe we should switch from computer modeling to toothpicks and marshmallows... a little hands on practice (and some sugar) can really get the creativity flowing.

With many unique ideas, they tested their final bridges to see which one could hold the most weight. Sometimes you have to break something to best understand how it works. Genetics and constant learning at home gave an unfair advantage to her son's team, who's bridge held the most pennies. Looks like we have a future employee on our hands. Overall, the lesson was a hit and we hope it's one of many instances where kids see engineering as a challenging and exciting career choice.