I love the work that I do as a lead bridge design engineer at WSP USA. Over the past decade, WSP has provided me with the engineering opportunities to grow my knowledge in the industry. One thing I love is that I never design the same bridge twice. There is always something different about the site conditions that makes every bridge unique.
My career path to WSP wasn’t linear and started with my 2008 graduation from Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T), with a bachelor of science degree in architectural engineering and in 2011, a master of science degree in civil engineering. There weren’t many civil engineering opportunities in the area, so I joined a local airplane manufacturing company and performed sustaining structural engineering work for one of their larger plane programs, until I could find design work in my preferred field.
Finally, in 2013, I joined WSP as a bridge engineer and started with general engineering responsibilities such as bridge design, shop drawings designs and quantity calculations. Since then, my role has progressed to project pursuits, more complex design, team leadership and developing new skills like project management.
Ultimately, my journey to WSP was filled with lessons about perseverance, positive attitude and change, and it’s helped me succeed in my responsibilities and inspired me to encourage future engineers.
Guiding Future Generations of Engineers
My favorite part of my career is teaching the next generation of engineers, specifically kids of all ages. After having two children of my own, I’ve become increasingly aware of how early they pick up on engineering concepts with their ‘can do’ attitudes.
I also know that being a woman makes me part of a minority in the engineering field, and that I have an impact on those like me, specifically young women for the future of the engineering profession. I want to inspire the younger generation and show them that they really can do it!
So, for the past 10 years, I’ve been volunteering for STEM events, including Future City Competition; Steel Bridge Competition; Kansas State Engineering Fair; Girl Scout Events; and, most recently, working with the local school district STEAM Camp this summer. Both STEM and STEAM programs are essential to promote their innovation, problem-solving and critical thinking skills at an early age.
As volunteer judges for engineering competition events, we don’t really see the results from our efforts, but we do provide constructive feedback for individual students and teams to improve. My goal is to spur their critical thinking through their problem-solving skills and to encourage all children to pursue their passions in STEM.
Working in Bridge Design at WSP
Like any engineer, I enjoy solving problems, and I think bridge design is the perfect fit for me.
Bridge engineers like different aspects of design such as beam design, cross frame design, bearings, foundations, and more. I really like bridge pier design. I think piers are one of the elements of a bridge where you can have some aesthetic creativity — the shape, use of formliners, LED lighting, and paint — yet keep the structural stability of the bridge.
For clients that are investing money into bridge aesthetics including the pier, this creativity combined with stability makes a big difference. It makes the bridge more visually appealing to the community and, from that, residents take greater pride in their city.
Solving Problems Through Design
There are a lot of cases where bridges are needed — specifically pedestrian bridges that enable the movement of people across highways, rivers and railroads — in order to connect them with resources – parks, schools, and resources that they wouldn’t have had access to otherwise. In fact, public involvement in the early stages of roadway and bridge design is a great way for the community to express their wants and needs for connectivity within their local area.
My engineering experience includes projects like East Kellogg in Wichita, Kansas. This project featured highway interchanges and five miles of roadway improvements, including the expansion of the existing four-lane roadway to a six-lane highway with outer roads. My responsibilities included checking shop drawings for steel box beams, elastomeric bearings, and mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) retaining walls; designing the steel handrail that sits atop the MSE retaining walls; and helping with the MSE wall panel compliance process, including mix design review and paint review.
Another project I worked on was Harry Street in Wichita. This project significantly improved traffic and pedestrian and bicyclist safety by adding a sidewalk and a multi-use path on the bridge. I performed cost comparisons of new design versus rehabilitation of the bridge; helped design the pier shape and reinforcing with integrated aesthetic direction from a local artist on design elements such as the abutment formliner, handrail color, metal handrail attachment, and metal pier sculpture attachment.
Projects and Technology Recognition
Several projects that I’ve been part of have received recognition, including:
- 2016 American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) Kansas Award for the Kellogg Central Business Viaduct Rehabilitation project,
- 2016 American Public Works Association (APWA) Award for Mount Hope Bridge,
- 2018 Kansas American Concrete Institute Award for the I-235 Bridges, and
- 2022 ACEC Kansas and 2022 Arts Council Chris Cherches awards for the East Kellogg projects.
My team also is using a relatively new Bentley infrastructure software tool with the Kansas Department of Transportation. Dubbed OpenRoads and OpenBridge, this 3D interface can be a great tool to see the interactions between roadway geometry and bridge geometry, as well as new bridge analysis techniques.
While the learning curve for this tool is steep, our hope is to streamline the analysis and plan production with each future deliverable. We can learn new innovative technologies that are being developed for use, but more importantly, our clients can start using them in order to be Future Ready®, because it supports a commitment to innovative, proactive learning practices.
Based in WSP’s St. Louis office, Witushynsky is a member of the ASCE and the APWA. Her professional awards include: ASCE Outstanding Younger Member Award, Region 7, 2017; Outstanding Young Alumni Award, Missouri S&T, Academy of Civil Engineers, 2022; and Top Young Professional, Engineering News-Record – Midwest, 2023.
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