Dagli and his colleagues at DOT's Wolf Road headquarters spent several lunch hours this month at work in a first-floor conference room, stacking canned goods and pasta boxes collected as part of the agency's annual food drive commemorating Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday.

When they ran out of food the right size for their construction project, they collected cash donations from their colleagues and went shopping for decking material (chiefly spaghetti and macaroni boxes) and some nice, sturdy pier bases. Jumbo cans of tomatoes were the best choice for those, said drafting technician Robert Foote.

Bridge design squad leader George Senft acknowledged the specs were a lot looser than for the usual projects the team undertakes.

"We just started doing it, and it kind of evolved," said Judy Fenoff, an engineering technician.

The DOT employees who donated food and money to the project were among thousands of state workers around New York who participated in the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Food Drive coordinated by the state Office of General Services and Office of Mental Health.

More than 900 pounds collected at agency offices in the Capital Region will be contributed to the Food Bank of Northeastern New York, said OGS spokesman Brad Maione. In addition, agencies that have regional offices elsewhere, including DOT, are donating to food banks and pantries in their own regions.

Maione said organizers estimate that every 2 1/2 pounds donated equals one meal.

The DOT bridge builders were responding to a challenge proposed by Commissioner Astrid Glynn, Dagli said.

"I had seen something similar done in the architectural community," Glynn explained. "I thought it might be an interesting challenge for our engineers and a way to bring the idea home to some of the members of NYSDOT. I must say they responded beyond my wildest expectations."

The total amount collected at DOT won't be known until next week, when the bridge is to be dismantled, but food drive coordinators Cheryl Looman and Ron Weiss said it appears that more donation boxes were filled this year.

The multicolored, multispan slab bridge features many of the details New York motorists would see on their daily commutes: piers, arches, wingwalls and ramps.

The builders also used donated food items to build a boat, some buses and cars and a train below the span, giving it a "multimodal" flavor.

Dagli has assigned special significance to many of the details in honor of King's legacy and the nation's civil rights history. The train represents the Underground Railroad that brought former slaves to freedom, each arch honors a civil rights leader and the entire structure represents a bridge between races, he said.

On a more whimsical note, Weiss also noted this consumer-oriented feature: "It's toll free."

Source : Times Union