The U.S. 181 New Harbor Bridge was recently honored with the George S. Richardson Medal at the 43rd International Bridge Conference. The award recognizes outstanding achievement in bridge engineering. Opened to traffic in June 2025, the bridge features the longest cable-stayed main span in North America at 1,661 feet and is the longest precast segmental bridge ever built.
Following the award, Roads & Bridges spoke with Kurt Knebel, Chief Operating Officer for Pulice – a FlatironDragados company, to discuss the collaboration behind the project.
In the interview, Knebel reflects on theyears of collaboration that brought together expertise from across FlatironDragados, the Texas Department of Transportation, design partners, subcontractors and local stakeholders to deliver the record-setting U.S. 181 New Harbor Bridge.
“What I think I’m most proud of is that we were actually able to get it built by bringing together so many people from so many different places with everyone coming together with one goal, and that is to get the project built,” Knebel said.
The conversation highlights the teamwork, technical expertise and strong partnerships that made the Harbor Bridge project possible.
