Eugene Figg

Eugene C. Figg, (August 4, 1936 – March 20, 2002) was an American structural engineer who made numerous contributions to the field of structural engineering, especially in the design of the cable-stayed bridge and the use of the segmental concrete construction method. Born in Charleston, South Carolina, Figg’s passion for designing structures began during childhood when he often entertained himself by building scale models. Figg received his initial training as a structural engineer at The Citadel (military college), located in his hometown of Charleston. During his career, he brought the use of the segmental method for spanning large gaps to the United States with the assistance of his Paris-based partner, Jean M. Muller. He formed his own engineering firm, the Figg Engineering Group, the only national engineering firm that works on just bridges (Pittman 2001), that became North America’s foremost designer of the segmental concrete bridge. One of Figg’s major achievements was founding the American Segmental Bridge Institute in 1989, and also serving four years as a trustee at the National Building Museum. In 2000, Figg was honored with the John A. Roebling Medal for his outstanding lifetime achievement in structural engineering. Throughout his career, Figg worked diligently to combine function and form in his creation of some of the most aesthetically pleasing bridges ever designed.

The Interstate and Defense Highway System (IDHS) started up about a decade after the end of World War II, and the construction of the interstate highway system was underway. By the time Figg had graduated and completed his bridge design training, the IDHS was into its fifth year of constructing the 42,500 mile interstate system, and was still expanding throughout the country (Garber 2002). The addition of so many roads created a large demand for bridges, many of which needed to span distances that hadn’t been attempted before.

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