Six civil engineering students from Iowa State are currently in Alaska competing in the National Student Steel Bridge Competition.

The team of construction and civil engineering majors took second place in the midwest regional competition, which was hosted by ISU last semester.

The actual competition will be held on Saturday, said team member Wes Farrand.

Farrand said the object of the competition was to see which team could construct its pre-fabricated bridge the fastest.

“The bridge is pre-fabricated, and the competition is a race to see who can build the fastest bridge over a nine-foot-wide river,” he said. “The Iowa State bridge is 17 feet long.”

There are four scoring categories, all of which have formulas in order to make the scoring fair, Farrand said.

Scott Ingersoll, junior in civil engineering and team co-captain, said ISU’s bridge was very aesthetically appealing.

The team took first in the aesthetics division at regionals.

“I haven’t seen another bridge like ours,” he said.

“Most are the everyday normal-looking bridge,” Ingersoll said.

The team designed a bridge shaped like a triangle with a chrome finish, Ingersoll said.

“It was just for looks,” he said. “It’s no stronger than any other structure; it’s creative.”

Ingersoll was excited about the trip because this was the first year ISU has been involved in the competition.

“This has been going on for 20 years or longer, but it’s the first year that Iowa State has competed,” Ingersoll said.

“It’s kind of neat because we haven’t ever seen a bridge being built until this year. We basically went from nothing to nationals,” he said.

Team member David Tarries, junior in civil engineering, grew up in Alaska.

He said the group will be sight-seeing before and after the competition.

“On Wednesday, we will travel to Mount McKinley and go white water rafting,” he said. “Thursday we are taking a bus tour through Anchorage and parts of Alaska.

“Friday will be registration for the competition and the co-captains meeting, and then we compete on Saturday,” Tarries said.

On Sunday night, the team and its bridge will be traveling back to Ames.

Tarries wasn’t sure if ISU could come home from Alaska with a first place finish.

“We hope for the best when we get there, but we aren’t expecting to win since this is our first year,” he said.

The team was sponsored by the American Institute of Steel and as a fundraiser, the co-captains did presentations during conference meetings.

The trip was also funded partly by money accumulated from past years when the team was inactive in competition.

About 40 universities across the nation are competing this week in Alaska.