Better Roads, 6 November 2013 Tina Grady Barbaccia Every year, Better Roads conducts a survey on the state of the nation’s bridges. The survey has been conducted since 1979. Bridge engineers from every state and Washington, D.C., are sent a survey with both qualitative and quantitative questions to determine the percentage of structurally deficient (SD) and functionally obsolete (FO)…
The Mountain-Plains Consortium, part of the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute at North Dakota State University, Fargo, has released a report that develops design guidelines for integral abutment bridges. Read the Report
TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 761: Reference Guide for Applying Risk and Reliability-Based Approaches for Bridge Scour Prediction presents a reference guide designed to help identify and evaluate the uncertainties associated with bridge scour prediction including hydrologic, hydraulic, and model/equation uncertainty. For complex foundation systems and channel conditions, the report includes a step-by-step procedure designed to…
TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program has issued a request for proposal to develop proposed toughness requirements for the heat-affected zones of welded structural steels for highway bridges. Proposals are due December 17, 2013. Read the RFP
Tom Warne Report, 29 October 2013 Land Line Magazine – October 23, 2013 Transportation officials in Wisconsin say a plan is in place to repair a Green Bay I-43 bridge over the Fox River that began sagging last month. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation has hired a contractor and hopes it will have the Leo Frigo Bridge repairs completed…
The Kentucky Transportation Center has released a report that explores the inspectability and accelerated weathering performance of optically active pigment coating in a laboratory test program. Read the Report
The Virginia Department of Transportation has released a report that discusses its bridge coating practices in order to identify areas where process improvements and cost savings could be realized. Read the Report
TRB’s second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP 2) Renewal Project R19A has released a prepublication, non-edited version of a report titled Bridges for Service Life Beyond 100 Years: Innovative Systems, Subsystems, and Components that develops approaches and procedures to enhance service life design for existing and new bridges. Read the Pre-Publication
The Kentucky Transportation Center has released a report that details the pre-construction monitoring, planning and design, and construction measures of Kentucky’s US 150 bridge. Read the Report
The Kentucky Transportation Center has released a report that documents repair of I-65 bridges, including repairs of precast, prestressed concrete girder spans and the reinforced concrete bearing pads. Read the Report
AASHTO Journal, 11 October 2013 Ohio Department of Transportation and Kentucky Transportation Cabinet officials announced last week that they have narrowed the options for a new Ohio River bridge down to two after a study identified those choices as the most beneficial. The bridge will link Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. “The study focuses on two potential delivery and funding…
Tom Warne Report, 9 October 2013 Nwlaborpress – October 2, 2013 Oregon – The Columbia River Crossing, thought to be dead last summer when Washington lawmakers did not approve funding, is showing new signs of life. Oregon vowed that it would not let 10 years of planning and $170 million spent in planning go to waste. State officials are…
Tom Warne Report, 9 October 2013 First Coast News – October 1, 2013 JACKSONVILLE, Fl. – The Florida Department of Transportation said cars could be driving on the Matthews Bridge again as early as two weeks from now, after a naval vessel hit it last week. Superior Construction Company has been commissioned to fix the bridge, which was hit…
Tom Warne Report, 28 September 2013 Associated Press – September 26, 2013 GREEN BAY, Wis. – Officials in Wisconsin have reported that the bridge connecting I-43 over the Fox River in Green Bay has been closed indefinitely following the settling of a concrete support pier by more than 2 feet. The Leo Frigo Memorial Bridge was closed Wednesday following…
The Institute for Transportation at Iowa State University has released a report that evaluates shrinkage components in the high-performance concrete mixes used for bridge decks and overlays. Read the Report
The Mountain-Plains Consortium, part of the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute at North Dakota State University, Fargo, has released a report that discusses general dynamic simulation methodology used to study the combined realistic service and extreme loads on short- and medium-span bridges. Read the Report
TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) has issued a request for proposals to develop recommended guidelines for prefabricate bridge elements and systems, and to identify the dynamic forces resulting from bridge moves . Proposals are due November 21, 2013. Read the RFP
Tom Warne Report, 25 September 2013 Associated Press – September 16, 2013 In the years since the I-35W bridge collapse, dozens of local and state bridges across Minnesota have undergone significant rehabilitation or been completely replaced. Crews are working on a new concrete bridge over the Mississippi River in Hastings, Minn., that will replace the more narrow, steel-truss bridge….
The New Zealand Transport Agency has released a report that provides guidance on the design of steel-concrete composite bridges—bridges that consist of steel girders and reinforced concrete slabs on top. Read the Report
The Illinois Center for Transportation at the University of Illinois has released a report that explores test results of ultimate pier and contraction scour methods for cohesive soils on 30 bridge sites in Illinois. Read the Report
TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) has issued a request for proposals to develop a recommended American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials guide specification for accelerated bridge construction (ABC) and design that compiles the growing body of recommended design and construction specification products for prefabricated bridge elements and systems for ABC. Proposals are due November 19,…
AASHTO Journal, 20 September 2013 A federal judge ruled Monday in favor of moving the North Carolina Department of Transportation’s Bonner Bridge project forward after receiving a request for a motion to stop the project due to environmental issues. The Herbert C. Bonner Bridge, which carries N.C. 12 between the Oregon Inlet and Rodanthe in Dare County, was first…
AASHTO Journal, 20 September 2013 Just months after experiencing a partial collapse, the Washington State Department of Transportation opened to traffic the permanent I-5 Skagit River Bridge. Crews put in place the new bridge last Sunday (Sept. 15), finishing the building and relocation of the bridge more than two weeks ahead of WSDOT’s Oct. 1 deadline. “I want to…
AASHTO Journal, 20 September 2013 The Transportation Research Board announced it will host a webinar late next month on the second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP2) product “Bridge for Service Life Beyond 100 Years: Innovative Systems, Subsystems, and Components (R19A).” The “Bridge for Service Life Beyond 100 Years: Innovative Systems, Subsystems, and Components” project produced the “Design Guide for…
The Kentucky Transportation Center at the University of Kentucky has released a report that summarizes nationwide survey results of the status of mechanically stabilized earth wall abutments in Kentucky. Read the Report
The Center for Transportation Studies at the University of Minnesota has released a report that details its second approach to dielectric relaxation spectroscopy for low-cost sensing systems intended to monitor ice, water, and deicing solutions on road bridge deck surfaces. Read the Report
The Center for Transportation Studies at the University of Minnesota has released a report evaluates physical attributes of the prototypes for bridge deck installations, as developed for earlier phases of the research. Read the Report
The Institute for Transportation at Iowa State University has released a report that demonstrates the capabilities for load testing and bridge rating in Iowa, and the economic benefits of performing such testing. Read the Report
AASHTO Journal, 6 September 2013 On Thursday, the Rhode Island Department of Transportation joined elected officials from the federal, state, and local levels to celebrate the completion and the official naming of the new Pawtucket River Bridge. The three-year, $81 million project actually rehabilitated or replaced nine bridges in the City of Pawtucket. The Pawtucket River Bridge was originally…
AASHTO Journal, 6 September 2013 California Department of Transportation celebrated a massive achievement this week as it opened the eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge to traffic, almost 25 years after an earthquake caused extensive damage to the bridge, prompting decades of repairs. The new $6.4 billion span is designed to handle the most powerful earthquakes, including…
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