Since Sept. 11, 2001, many have feared that high-profile bridges might be terrorist targets. Zoli has devised ways to help those bridges — for security reasons he won’t disclose which ones — withstand an explosion, though he emphasizes that his work also will protect them from natural disasters as well as aging and decay. Zoli has advised the Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Army Engineering Research and Development Center, and numerous local governments.
As vice president and national director of long-span bridges in the New York office of HTNB Corp., Zoli has collaborated on well-known bridges such as the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge in Boston and the Blennerhassett Island Bridge, which spans the Ohio River near Parkersburg, W.Va. In Princeton, Zoli was the lead engineer on the new Streicker pedestrian bridge across Washington Road. He is a visiting lecturer at Princeton in civil and environmental engineering.