For developing a novel talent cultivation mode under the framework of a plan for educating and training outstanding engineers (PETOE), the teaching reform on bridge construction course was carried out. The bridge construction course in the major of civil engineering was selected as a platform of the teaching reform and a novel teaching mode was proposed which mainly aimed at training students’ practice ability and innovation ability. The situation and problems of the conventional teaching mode were discussed. Objective and requirement of the teaching process, teaching contents, teaching process, and assessment methods of bridge construction course were also studied.