History

Hardesty & Hanover has one of the longest and richest histories of any consulting and engineering firm in the United States and remains leader in the field of bridge engineering. Today's partners carry on the traditions of innovation and integrity that have marked the firm's progress since it was founded in 1887 by Dr. John Alexander Low Waddell, one of the nation's pioneer bridge engineers.

Our firm spans the history of modern transportation engineering, from designs for turn-of-the-century railroads and highways to plans for modern expressways, to the most technologically advanced movable bridges, and repair and reconstruction of today's aging transportation infrastructure.

Over the years, Hardesty & Hanover has been responsible for many innovations and inventions and has won numerous awards in the design of rail and highway bridges, our original field. Fourteen of our bridges have won awards in the AISC Bridge Competitions.

Movable bridges are one of the firm's specialties. In 1894, Dr. Waddell developed the prototype of the modern vertical lift bridge. Since then, Hardesty & Hanover has designed hundreds of movable bridges. Recent projects include the full range of movable bridge types - bascule spans, vertical-lift spans, swing spans, and rolling lift spans.

In addition to bridge and highway work, Hardesty & Hanover's projects have included toll facilities, railroad facilities, transit systems, sewers, utilities, and a wide variety of movable and fixed structures presenting special engineering problems.

Hardesty & Hanover utilizes a multi-disciplinary design approach to ensure that our designs are technically correct as well as functional. To achieve this goal, we maintain in-house expertise in geotechnical, mechanical, and electrical engineering to complement our bridge, railroad, and highway engineering capability.

Hardesty & Hanover is headquartered in New York City with branch offices in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maryland, Florida, Michigan, Massachusetts, Washington State, and Beijing.