2025 UVA ASCE Steel Bridge Competition; Navigating Barriers: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Rock Arch Rapids for Anadromous Fish Passage in comparison to Dam Removal

The following thesis portfolio contains my technical paper on the revitalization of the UVA ASCE Student Steel Bridge team and my sociotechnical paper on the success of nature-like fishway design in restoring diadromous fish populations in American Rivers. Throughout my research of fishway designs it has become more and more apparent on the need to address environmental repercussions of aging infrastructure throughout the United States.

Our capstone team designed and fabricated a steel bridge to compete in the 2025 ASCE Student Steel Bridge Competition. The bridge was designed to fit competition requirements and to model improvements for the Skunk River Trail. The team optimized structural performance, constructability, and aesthetics through iterative modeling and analysis in Revit and RAM Elements. After completing the model, steel was ordered, and the bridge was fabricated by the team. The fabrication process included welding, cutting, bolt-hole drilling, grinding, and painting. The bridge was tested under an oscillating 2500lb load in the UVA structures laboratory. Alongside technical objectives, the team prioritized reviving the UVA Steel Bridge Team by recruiting undergraduates, structuring leadership roles, and holding workshops. The report includes detailed drawings, design evolution, and compliance documentation with AISC and ASCE competition standards. Our team was successful in constructing the bridge and competing in the ASCE Regional Symposium at the end of March 2025. Although the bridge was disqualified due to slightly overtime construction, the bridge performed well under load tests, and the competition provided valuable insights for future years. Future teams will look to build a lighter bridge with fewer connections and smaller members. Our team satisfied its goals of constructing the bridge, attending competition, and building a solid foundation of the UVA Steel Bridge Club for the future.

Dam infrastructure is the number one disruptor of diadromous fish migration, as a result, innovative solutions like the Rock Arch Rapids, a nature-like fishway on the Cape Fear River in North Carolina, have been designed to assist migratory fish in traversing these barriers, while still preserving existing dam function. This research evaluates whether such fishways can be as effective in restoring fish populations as complete dam removal, by analyzing fish migration data, ecological studies, and comparing the Rock Arch Rapids to similar nature-like fishways in the Red River Basin, Mn, to the dam removal project of the Quaker Neck Dam on the Neuse River, NC. Initial telemetry studies from 2013-2015 revealed upstream passage efficiencies below the targeted 80% for American shad (53-65%), striped bass (19-25%). Following design modifications completed in 2021, passage efficiencies improved for the American shad (71 ± 14%) and striped bass (32 ± 8%), falling short of the Neus River’s post-removal spawning success (~90% for American shad). Although the Red River Basin fishways demonstrate ecosystem reconnection, their data is not quantitative enough to outweigh the Cape Fear studies. Despite advancements in design, the Rock Arch Rapids does not achieve the ecological restoration potential of dam removal, proving only to be a temporary solution to when full removal is constrained by economic, political, or logistical factors.