The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General has released a report that details the U.S. Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA’s) efforts to improve bridge safety. Read the Bridge Safety Report
The Ohio Department of Transportation has released a report that discusses the cracking behavior of continuous span structural slab bridges in order to address bridge deck cracking issues and the service life of concrete bridges. Read the Report
The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development has released a report that documents the causes of biodeterioration of concrete surfaces and practices implemented to prevent and clean biofilm. Read the Report
AASHTO Journal, 23 January 2015 New Jersey Transportation Commissioner Jamie Fox has ordered a statewide review of about 600 structurally deficient bridges, and warned local officials that he could stop payments to them from a tapped-out state Transportation Trust Fund. A spokesman said Fox delivered the news while meeting Jan. 20 with local officials. Fox told them unless the state…
AASHTO Journal, 23 January 2015 Commercial truckers planning trips across Washington state can now use an online route-mapping software tool to know if their trucks will meet all vertical bridge clearance limits along the way. The Washington State Department of Transportation unveiled the online tool Jan. 15, noting that it was developed in the wake of the May 2013…
The Ohio Department of Transportation has released a report that investigates the applicability of vertical column support systems to improve subgrade and reduce settlements for existing roadways in Ohio. Read the Report
The Institute for Transportation at Iowa State University has released a report that investigates the difference in bond strength and development length between galvanized reinforcing steel and epoxy-coated bars. Read the Report
AASHTO Journal, 9 January 2015 Scott Bennett, director of the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department, said he has cut three 2015 highway projects worth $30 million from a Jan. 27 bid opening as he waits to see how and when Congress might replenish the Highway Trust Fund. Bennett, in a Dec. 23 press release announcing the action, said…
The Minnesota Department of Transportation has released a report that investigates time- and temperature-dependent behavior of post-tensioned concrete bridges. Read the Report
The Florida Department of Transportation has released a report that describes a micro-structural evaluation of 50W weathering steel on bridges so as to understand and characterize the effect of the scribe markings on micro-structural evolution and mechanical properties. Read the Report
Roads & Bridges, November, 2014 Forgive those in charge of maintaining the nation’s steel bridges for thinking the sky is falling—they’re just trying to take advantage of the newest technology that could save their charges. That technology, StopCrackEX, is based on a technique known as cold expansion, which traces its origins back to the aerospace industry in the mid-1960s….
Better Roads, 16 December 2014 Brian Ethridge Construction of the new Tappan Zee bridge halted on Tuesday after silos collapse. | Photo: Times Herald-Record. Construction of the Tappan Zee bridge was shut down on Tuesday following the collapse of silo structures on the floating concrete batch plant. “Tappan Zee Constructors today shut down operations of both floating concrete…
The Mountain-Plains Consortium at Colorado State University has released a report that documents and assesses the role of building information modeling (BIM) implementation for use in infrastructure asset management. Read the Report
The U.S. Federal Highway Administration has released a tech brief that identifies research and development needs of its foundation characterization program—a program that develops and evaluates methodologies for characterizing bridge foundations to determine unknown geometry, material properties, integrity, and load-carrying capacity. Read the Tech Brief
The Center for Transportation Research at the University of Texas at Austin has released a report that provides an overview of an instrumentation program conducted on the world’s first precast network arch bridge. Read the Report
The Virginia Department of Transportation has released a report that develops and validates structural design guidelines and details for concrete bridge decks with corrosion-resistant reinforcing bars. Read the Report
In 2012, the AASHTO SCOM Bridge Technical Working Group submitted a research problem statement titled “Identifying and Assessing Failures of Small Movement Expansion Joints”. This problem statement was selected for an NCHRP project, and assigned NCHRP Project Number 12-100 – “Guidelines for Maintaining Small Movement Bridge Expansion Joints”. The objective of this research is to develop proposed guidelines with…
The Institute for Transportation at Iowa State University has released a report that describes the development of a web-based project management system for bridge construction as part of the Iowa Department of Transportation’s construction administration system. Read the Report
AASHTO Journal, 14 November 2014 Workers connect south abutment wing wall pieces. Photos courtesy CH2M Hill Because it used innovative construction techniques that included precast bridge deck sections, the Rhode Island Department of Transportation only needed to close a busy Providence highway ramp for 21 days to replace a bridge leading to Interstate 195. That compares with an adjacent…
AASHTO Journal, 7 November 2014 Bertha, the tunnel boring machine, being assembled in her launch pit in May 2013. WSDOT photo. Washington State Department of Transportation said state archaeologists gave Seattle Tunnel Partners the go-ahead on Nov. 2 to resume digging a rescue shaft toward a broken tunnel boring machine, part of a $3.1 billion Alaskan Way Viaduct Replacement…
The Florida Department of Transportation has released a report that explains a sensor concept that could be used for detection of active corrosion in post-tensioned tendons used in segmentally constructed bridges. Read the Report
The U.S. Federal Highway Administration has released a report that explains the potential of using ultra-high performance concrete-class materials to anchor or lap splice deformed reinforcing bars in field-cast connections as a means to simplify connection details in some prefabricated bridge systems. Read the Report
AASHTO Journal, 31 October 2014 AASHTO’s bookstore has made available a free online publication titled “S10.1-2014 Steel Bridge Erection Guide Specification.” The 58-page book, offered as a downloadable pdf, has 10 sections plus 8 appendices. It sets and defines basic requirements in transporting, handling and erecting steel bridge components to ensure safe and accurate construction. It also aims to…
AASHTO Journal, 31 October 2014 Work to rescue and repair the world’s largest tunnel boring machine was suspended Oct. 23 on Seattle’s Alaskan Way Viaduct Replacement project, after diggers of an excavation shaft toward the stalled machine found shell material. Initial reports said the discarded shells, found about 20 feet from the surface just days into the digging, could…
AASHTO Journal, 31 October 2014 Pennsylvania Transportation Secretary Barry Schoch said the state DOT and a private-sector team called Plenary Walsh Keystone Partners will work together in a public-private partnership to replace 558 bridges. Under PennDOT’s Rapid Bridge Replacement Project, that private team must start construction next summer and complete all work in 36 months. The state retains ownership of…
The U.S. Federal Highway Administration has released a tech brief that provides rating guidance on both bridge load and bridge resistance factor rating philosophies. Read the Tech Brief
TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) has issued a request for proposals to develop guidelines to improve the quality of element-level data collection for the National Highway System Bridges in reference to the AASHTO Manual for Bridge Element Inspection. Proposals are due by December 18, 2014. Project: Project Information Read the RFP
The Oregon Department of Transportation has released a report that assesses the behavior of circular reinforced-concrete bridge columns constructed with Grade 80 reinforcing steel meeting ASTM A706 specifications subjected to reversed cyclic lateral loading. Read the Report
The U.S. Federal Highway Administration has released a report that develops design guidance for mitigation of excessive cable vibrations on cable-stayed bridges. The study includes wind tunnel testing to evaluate the influence of damping, turbulence, and aerodynamic surface treatment on cable stability. Read the Report
TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 782: Proposed Guideline for Reliability-Based Bridge Inspection Practices presents a proposed guideline for reliability-based bridge inspection practices and provides two case studies of the application of the proposed guideline. The guideline describes a methodology to develop a risk-based approach for determining the bridge inspection interval according to the requirements in Moving…
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