Eastern Carolina University News Services: Bridge to Success
November 14, 2023
Will Janning watches as a seagull flies across a clear sky. The nearby water greets the sand he stands on, allowing him a dry spot from where he can see more than two years of his work in front of him. The 45-foot-tall bridge stretches more than half a mile across The Straits, a waterway that separates Harkers Island from mainland Carteret County. From the top, you can spot the Cape Lookout Lighthouse staring back at you as it keeps watch over 20 miles of blue ocean.
“It’s awesome,” said Janning, who works as a project engineer for Balfour Beatty, an international construction company that is building the new Harkers Island bridge. “It’s definitely a great place to work, and my coworkers and I cherish every minute we have out here because we know it’s not going to last forever. Working on the coast of North Carolina is definitely a pretty proud feeling.”
Janning is among a growing contingent of East Carolina University construction management graduates who have turned their degrees into high-paying and rewarding careers that are literally shaping the region.
“It basically set the foundation for my career,” Janning said of his ECU education. “The skills we learned in school, I’m applying them here day in and day out. Different tools like Primavera P6, which is a scheduling software, and Autodesk AutoCAD, we use those technologies every single day out here on the jobsite. Without my degree, I wouldn’t be where I’m at today.”
Where he is today is coastal Carteret County, roughly two hours from ECU’s campus. Janning has been a part of the Harkers Island bridge project since it began in 2021, helping write and execute contracts and then serving as a member of the on-site management team for the span that will open in a matter of months.
“I like to use the phrase that I keep the light green for all the operations out there in the field,” Janning said. “If there’s ever a problem that comes up, I’ll get with our team, we’ll come up with a plan, a way to mitigate any issues.”
As if building a 3,200-foot bridge across open water isn’t difficult enough, this span is particularly unique. It is the first in North Carolina to be constructed with carbon fiber reinforced polymer strands instead of steel rebar. The design means the bridge should withstand the corroding coastal environment better than traditionally built bridges such as the one it’s replacing.
The current bridge to Harkers Island is about 50 years old. The new bridge is expected to last 200 years, putting Janning at the forefront of what could become the future of bridge construction in the state.
Janning credits the foundation he received at ECU for paving the way for his opportunity at Balfour Beatty. To give back, he represented Balfour Beatty at this fall’s engineering and technology career fair, recruiting future Pirate graduates and talking to them about his job.
“The ECU construction management department is just phenomenal,” he said. “They definitely set you up for success, whatever that may be. … The opportunities are endless, and ECU does a really good job of setting their students up for those opportunities.”