Raymond “Paul” Giroux, Dist.M.ASCE
Senior Estimating Manager, Kiewit Infrastructure West Co., civil engineering historian

As St. Louis, Missouri grew in size in the mid nineteenth century, so too did the need for building a bridge over the mighty Mississippi River.  Without a practicable engineering solution and stalled by the Civil War, the start of construction of the Eads Bridge (then called the St. Louis Bridge) was delayed until 1867.  James B. Eads, a self-taught engineer who had never designed or built a bridge proposed a radical steel arch design to span the river with spans over 500 feet in length and clearance of 88 feet above the river.  Completed in 1874, the Eads plan required river piers be constructed using a new technique known as pneumatic caissons.  These caissons pre-date those of the famous Brooklyn Bridge (1883).  The superstructure was constructed from steel; a relatively new material for bridges using the cantilever erection method.  Eads desire to use steel for a major bridge drove innovation in the manufacturing and quality control of steel.  Eads and his engineering team had to develop many innovative solutions to overcome numerous obstacles during the course of construction.
The Eads Bridge is an important chapter in the history of bridge design and construction.  This presentation will bring the story of the Eads Bridge to life, providing a unique learning opportunity. Upon attending this seminar you will be able to; understand why the Eads Bridge is still considered one of the greatest bridge-building stories.  Attendees will also understand the challenges of building the Eads Bridge, the importance of the Eads Bridge to growth and development of St. Louis in the late nineteenth century, and how James Eads successfully leveraged men and machines through the introduction of innovative means and methods.

Raymond “Paul” Giroux received his BS in Construction Engineering from Iowa State University in 1979.  For the past four decades, he has been with Kiewit Corporation, working on a wide variety of heavy civil engineering mega projects throughout the United States. Paul played a key role in notable projects such as the Fort McHenry Tunnel in Baltimore, several projects on the Big Dig in Boston including the new Zakim/Bunker Hill Bridge, the new San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge East Span, and many other projects. Paul serves on the Iowa State University Civil Engineering Advisory Board, the Transportation Research Board, and several American Society of Civil Engineering (ASCE) committees. In 2008, he was the ASCE Chairman and featured speaker for Brooklyn Bridge 125th Celebration in New York and, in 2010, he presented the closing speech at the ASCE Hoover Dam 75th Anniversary Symposium in Las Vegas.  In 2012, Paul served as the ASCE Chairman and principal lecturer for the Golden Gate Bridge 75th Anniversary.  In 2014, Paul was a featured speaker at Global Engineering Conference to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the opening of the Panama Canal. 
Paul is the author of several bridge design and civil engineering history papers.  He is also an active public speaker having presented over 200 lectures and seminars at over 60 engineering schools throughout the United States and other international venues.  Paul was the recipient of the American Society of Civil Engineers’ Civil Engineering History and Heritage Award for 2013, the G. Brooks Earnest Award in 2015, was elected a Distinguished Member of ASCE in 2016, received the ASCE Roebling Award for Construction Engineering in 2017, and was inducted into the Iowa State University Construction Engineering Hall of Fame in 2018.