How can Cornell students build bridges with the Ithaca community? Find steel beams, wooden decks and hand-railings, then assemble them with good, old-fashioned elbow grease.

The Cornell Student Chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers this weekend will finish construction on a pedestrian/bicycle bridge over Cascadilla Creek to link the Ithaca Sciencenter and the Tompkins County Cornell Cooperative Extension office, adjacent to Route 13. It has been an on-going student project for the past two years.

"This project is like Lego on a large scale," said Josh Martiesian '97, a community service co-chair for the ASCE student chapter. David Bolger '97 is the other community service co-chair.

With the input of Ithaca City officials and Cornell faculty, the students designed the bridge from scratch. Once the plans were drawn and approved and materials were gathered, the students began the pre-frabrication process on campus on April 10.

On-site construction is scheduled to begin Saturday, April 26, at about 9 a.m., and last through the afternoon. The students hope to finish construction on Saturday afternoon, but if necessary, there will also be construction work on Sunday.