Community Service

Members of the Cornell Student Chapter of ASCE pride themselves on being active in the Ithaca community. Each year students participate in community service activities ranging from construction projects to working with children at local schools. This page profiles several of our most recent service projects.

Fall 2000 - Pedestrian Bridges

ASCE was commissioned by the Cayuga Trails Club to design and build two pedestrian truss bridges for the Finger Lakes Trail in Connecticut Hill State Wildlife Management Area. The 40' and 53' bridges were designed in May 2000 by MEng students Dan Mullins and Mike Tavolaro who were then seniors in Civil Engineering. Students volunteered their time during September and October to cut wood to the proper lengths, drill holes in the wood and steel plates, and pre-assemble two of the trusses. On weekends, student and community volunteers traveled to the bridge site. Volunteers dug holes and poured concrete for the foundations, transported wood and other materials to the site, constructed the trusses, pulled them across the streams, and finished the bridges by adding cross-bracing, decking, and handrails. The two bridges were completely finished on December 3, 2000 after more than three months of construction. Please visit our construction log page to see the entire construction schedule as well as pictures of the whole process.

4-H Acres asked for ASCE's help in replacing the rotting foundation of their campground pavilion. In the fall of 1999, student volunteers used hydraulic jacks to lift the pavilion off its wooden foundation. The old foundation was cut out and cribbing was installed to hold up the structure until  weather improved the following spring.

In April, students returned to dig 12 holes for a concrete foundation system. Concrete was poured into SonoTubes and allowed to set for a few weeks. During finals week, a group returned to the pavilion and lowered it onto the new footings using hydraulic jacks once again.

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