From Concept to Connection: Optimizing Steel Bridge Design with NSBA Tools

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Designing steel bridges doesn’t have to mean reinventing the wheel on every project. The National Steel Bridge Alliance (NSBA) provides a powerful suite of free, industry-tested tools and standard plans designed to shave hours off your workflow, from initial concept to final details.

Join three bridge engineering experts and discover how to fast-track your design timeline, minimize manual calculation errors, and leverage ready-to-use standards.

What you’ll learn:

  • Unlock Value Engineering with Standard Plans: Frank Russo, PE, PhD, reveals how practicing engineers, owners, fabricators, and contractors can leverage the AISC/NSBA Standard Plans for Steel Bridges. Whether used as-is or customized for project-specific needs (such as deck thickness variations), learn how the Standard Plans can deliver instant cost and time savings.

  • Master Seamless Analysis & Splice Workflows: Chris Garrell, PE, demonstrates how to drastically cut design time using LRFD Simon for girder analysis and NSBA Splice for bolted connections. Learn input-to-output shortcuts, key results to review, and how data flows directly from Simon into Splice.

  • Accelerate Preliminary & Conceptual Design (TS&L): Jeff Carlson, PE, walks through a sample bridge while showcasing NSBA tools that turn complex early-phase calculations into quick, “back-of-the-envelope” analyses, helping you with faster decision-making earlier in the process.

Join us to learn how to use NSBA’s practical, ready-to-implement tools and workflows that let your team design faster, optimize project budgets, and streamline steel bridge delivery!

Date:  12/15/2026

Time:  12:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. Central

Substitution and Cancellations:  Substitutions may be made at any time. Cancellations received 1-3 days prior to the webinar will be charged a $50 service charge. Cancellations and no shows the day of the webinar session will not receive a refund.

Connection Instructions: Click on "Webinar Access" in the course navigation.  The webinar link will be live 15 minutes prior to start time.  The "Handouts" button provides access to the handouts 24 hours in advance of the webinar.

Recording access! For this webinar, both group and individual registration options have access to the live broadcast and the recording! The quiz and recording will be available within two weeks of the live broadcast. Earning PDH credit for viewing a recorded session requires passing a quiz. The last day to access the recording and quiz and earn recorded PDHs is January 15, 2027 -- 30 days after the last live broadcast.

Individual Registration

Register one person. Only one certificate will be issued. Registration is for this webinar series only.

  • $75 Member
  • $130 Non-Member
  • $55 Student/Faculty
  • Government Agency:  Discounts available.  Contact registration@aisc.org.
  • This course is included in LearningPass subscription.
Group Registration

        

        
Register an unlimited number of people from your company roster. Each registrant has access to the course including the live webinar, recording, and quiz for each session, and a certificate.

        
The group registration option is flexible--either pre-register participants so that everyone can view at their own connection, or post-register everyone who attends the presentation at a single connection (e.g. conference room). Either way, everyone may earn a certificate.

        
    
        
      
            
    • $225 Member
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    • $385 Non-Member
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    • Government Agency:  Discounts available. Contact registration@aisc.org.
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    • This course is included in LearningPass subscription.
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    Are you already registered as a group and need to add more colleagues? Add to your group registration here.
    

    
    
    

    


    

    Speakers
    

    
    
    
        
            
    

                
                    

    
                    		
                Frank Russo, PE, PhD, is the founder and principal at Russo Structural Services. With over 30 years of experience in bridge engineering, he has wide-ranging experience providing complex project support including major steel bridge design and rehabilitation. He is a trusted advisor to owners and clients nationwide. His experience includes developing training courses and materials in areas such as steel bridge analysis and design, bridge load rating, engineering for stability during construction, and fatigue and fracture for steel bridges. Russo received a Lifetime Achievement Award from AISC in 2023 for his work advancing the state-of-the-art in the analysis and design of complex bridge engineering and bridge education. Russo is a member of the NSBA Technical Committee, the NSBA Redundancy Task Force, Steel Bridge Task Force, and several AASHTO/NSBA Collaboration task groups.
            
    
            
    

                 
                Chris Garrell, PE, is Chief Bridge Engineer with the National Steel Bridge Alliance (NSBA), a division of the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC). He leads NSBA's technical activities, including the development of engineering software, design resources, and industry specifications. He works closely with bridge owners, consultants, fabricators, and industry organizations to advance steel bridge design and construction practices. Chris holds bachelor's degrees in Civil Engineering and Physics, a Master of Software Engineering, and a Master of Engineering in Systems Engineering.
            
    
            
    

                 
                
                    
    Jeff Carlson, PE, is the senior director of bridge
                        initiatives for the National Steel Bridge Alliance, a division of the American
                        Institute of Steel Construction. He represents the steel bridge fabricating
                        industry on matters of steel bridge fabrication and construction. Jeff's role
                        with NSBA is to provide technical assistance, education tools and resources
                        pertaining to steel, economic and market information, national representation
                        on transportation-related legislative issues, and university support programs.
                        Prior to joining the NSBA, Jeff spent seven years as a consulting
                        engineer. 
    

                    
    He holds three degrees: an undergraduate degree in civil
                        engineering from Colorado State University, a graduate degree in structural
                        engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, and an MBA from the
                        University of Denver. Additionally, Jeff has been a volunteer for the
                        non-profit philanthropic organization Bridges to Prosperity for more than three
                        years where he has led two separate teams of volunteers to Panama to build
                        pedestrian bridges in rural communities. 
    
                    		
            
    

            
    
    

    Register