The Institute for Transportation at Iowa State University has released a report that explores the use of radio frequency identification (RFID) tags as low-cost corrosion sensors of steel reinforcing bar on bridge decks. Read the Report
The U.S. Federal Highway Administration has released a tech brief that assesses the after-fracture internal and structural redundancy of a two-line, simple-span truss bridge that was slated for explosive demolition. Read the Tech Brief
Pavement Preservation Journal, Fall 2013, Vol. 6, No. 3 News Brief In April 2013, the International Grooving & Grinding Association reported that California had instituted a new specification to reduce noise from concrete bridge decks. Read the Full Article
Better Roads, 20 December 2013 Tina Barbaccia Here’s a look at the rehabilitation of seven overpasses in six locations and one bridge rehabilitation throughout the City of St. Louis. The video explains how rapid-set cement was used in the rehabilitation and the process of how it was used using volumetric mixers.
AASHTO Journal, 20 December 2013 Officials from the Michigan Department of Transportation and the Mackinac Bridge Authority (MBA) announced Tuesday that they have halted the toll increases scheduled to take place on the bridge on Jan. 1, allowing drivers to keep a little extra money in their pockets in the new year. Instead of raising the tolls for 2014 as originally planned, the…
AASHTO Journal, 20 December 2013 State transportation officials in North Carolina this week re-opened the Herbert C. Bonner Bridge, which had been shut down earlier this month due to safety concerns (see related AASHTO Journal story here). The bridge serves as a vital route for those traveling from the outer banks to the mainland. To re-open the bridge, the…
AASHTO Journal, 20 December 2013 Roads and Bridges Magazine last month released its annual list of the top 10 bridges in the U.S., naming five state transportation department bridges among the best in the country. Virginia Department of Transportation’s $105 million “Route 460 Connector Phase 1 Design-Build, Grassy Creek Bridge” project, located in Breaks, Va., was identified as the…
The Center for Transportation Research at the University of Texas at Austin has released a report that presents results of corrosion resistance from full-scale, post-tensioned bridge systems after four and six years of tests. Read the Report
The U.S. Federal Highway Administration has released a report that summarizes a workshop focused on the foundations of bridges over dry land and waterways. Read the Report
TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) has issued a request for proposals to develop proposed guidance for evaluating and maintaining small movement bridge joints. Proposals are due February 11, 2014. Read the RFP
TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA) Final Report for NCHRP-IDEA Project 162: Full-Scale Prototype Testing and Manufacturing and Installation Plans for New Scour- Vortex-Prevention scAUR and VorGAUR Products for a Representative Scour-critical Bridge addresses computational work on the effects of pier size or scale and model flume tests for other sediments, other abutment designs, and…
Bridge Load Rating Workshop The Bridge Load Rating Workshop will provide a thorough introduction to the AASHTOWare Bridge Rating software. Attendees will learn the program layout and the bridge load rating process. Participants will work through tutorials of increasing complexity while instructors provide assistance. Download the Brochure
The Florida Department of Transportation has released a report that details development of statistical analyses and machine learning-based methods for tracking the mechanical components of movable bridges. Read the Report
The Montana Department of Transportation has released a report that evaluates a new bridge built with Geosynthetic Reinforced Soil (GRS) Integrated Bridge System (IBS) technology—which is alternating layers of granular fill material and fabric sheets of geotextile for a composite reinforcement that provides support for bridge slabs. Read the Report
AASHTO Journal, 6 December 2013 The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials has just released the Manual for Bridge Element Inspection, 1st Edition, developed by the AASHTO Highways Subcommittee on Bridges and Structures. This new bridge inspection manual is a reference for standardized element definitions, element quantity calculations, and condition state definitions and is designed to assist…
AASHTO Journal, 6 December 2013 North Carolina Department of Transportation officials announced Tuesday the department closed the Herbert C. Bonner Bridge along the outer banks after discovering “immediate safety concerns.” “Closing the Bonner Bridge is necessary to keep all travelers safe, but we know it will have a devastating effect on the people who live along and visit the…
AASHTO Journal, 6 December 2013 Drivers utilizing Michigan’s Zilwaukee Bridge in Saginaw County received some welcome news last month when Michigan Department of Transportation announced it was re-opening all lanes of the bridge, some of which had been closed for repairs, on Nov. 23, weeks ahead of schedule. The project will extend and maximize the service life of the…
The Washington State Department of Transportation has released a report that explains the development, testing, and verification of the passive radio frequency identification (RFID) technology for determining maximum scour depths near proposed flow deflection structures on the Skagit River. Read the Report
TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) has issued a request for proposals to develop proposed American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) guidelines for the evaluation of new techniques for the design and construction of bridge columns with energy dissipation mechanisms in order to help minimize bridge damage and replacement after a seismic event. Proposals are…
AASHTO’s quarterly maintenance newsletter is now available. The newsletter contains information related to: Equipment Technical Working Group Highway Safety and Reliability Technical Working Group Bridge Technical Working Group Pavements Technical Working Group Roadway / Roadsides Technical Working Group ACPA, ISSA, and SSPC Web-based Training Opportunities Maintenance Leadership Academy Federal Funds for In-House Work Survey 2014 Summer Meeting Information Download…
Better Roads, 25 November 2013 Contributed by MMFX Steel The City of Chesapeake began construction on the new Dominion Boulevard, U.S. Route 17, project in early January (2013). The project includes five new bridge structures; the largest is a new four-lane 95-foot-high, fixed-span bridge that will replace the current two-lane steel bridge that has spanned the Southern Branch of…
The New Zealand Transportation Agency has released a report that proposes a new vehicle loading standard for the design and evaluation of road bridges and other highway infrastructure in New Zealand. Read the Report
Better Roads, 22 November 2013 Tina Grady Barbaccia Despite that the nation’s transportation funding system is in great peril as the expiration of the current surface transportation funding bill, Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21), is set to expire on September 30, 2014, many state agencies expect to be able to lower their number of functionally…
TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA) Final Report for NCHRP-IDEA Project 147: Shape Memory Alloy Enhanced SMART Expansion Joints develops a new shape memory alloy enhanced modular expansion joint, or SMART joint, that can accommodate the heightened demands imposed during extreme events like earthquakes, while maintaining industry preferred thermal load behavior with minimal…
TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program has issued a request for proposals to develop specific guidance for design, construction, and maintenance personnel on the function of filters and their installation. Proposals are due January 7, 2014. Read the RFP
Austroads has released a report that provides guidelines for consistency in the design of traffic barriers for bridges. This report is available for no fee after logging onto the site. Read the Report
AASHTO Journal, 8 November 2013 The Ohio Department of Transportation is stepping in to assist cities and counties in repairing their bridges, a move made possible through ODOT’s efforts to make the department more efficient. Gov. John Kasich announced last week that ODOT will be investing $120 million to repair and replace more than 200 bridges owned by cities…
AASHTO Journal, 8 November, 2013 The U.S. Department of Transportation announced this week that the heavily traveled Goethals Bridge, which connects Elizabeth, N.J. to Staten Island, N.Y., will receive a major financial boost for its replacement from the federal TIFIA loan program. To help complete the new $1.5 billion Goethals Bridge, USDOT will provide a $474 million TIFIA loan….
Better Roads, 8 November 2013 Tina Grady Barbaccia Better Roads Magazine’s exclusive survey of bridge conditions in the United States shows that every year the percentage of overall structurally deficient and functionally obsolete bridges slightly improves, but for most states consistent, guaranteed funding remains a major roadblock to making bigger strides in this important infrastructure. Methodology: The Better Roads…
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)…
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