The American Society of Civil Engineers has given America’s Infrastructure an overall score of D+ in its 2017 Report. Roads and bridges were given scores of D and C+ respectively. Read the Full Report
TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) has released a pre-publication, non-edited version of Synthesis 505: Current Practices and Guidelines for the Reuse of Bridge Foundations. A sustainable option for many bridge replacement and rehabilitation efforts is reusing bridge foundations, which can result in time and cost savings as well as reduced mobility impacts and environmental benefits. However,…
TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis 497: Post-Extreme Event Damage Assessment and Response for Highway Bridges reviews the procedures that state departments of transportation and two local authorities, New York City and Los Angeles County, use to assess the damage in bridges in response to extreme events and conduct emergency response activities. Extreme events include those…
TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA) Report 157: Development of an Intrinsically Conducting Polymer-Based Low-Cost, Heavy-Duty, and Environmentally-Friendly Coating System for Corrosion Protection of Structural Steels explores the use of Intrinsically Conducting Polymer for developing a more cost-effective, heavy-duty, and environmentally-friendly two-layer coating system to replace the conventional zinc-rich three-coat system for…
The Minnesota Department of Transportation has released a technical summary that aims to help engineers ensure the safety of Minnesota bridges, make cost-effective maintenance decisions, and process overload permits for heavy trucks. Read the Tech Summary
TRB’s Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 2592 consists of 18 papers that explore transportation structures, including: Evaluation of AASHTO Suggested Design Values for Reinforced Concrete Bridge Piers Under Vehicle Collisions Practical Implementation of Stability Bracing Strength and Stiffness Guidelines for Steel I-Girder Bridges Structural Redundancy of Prestressed Concrete Box Girder Bridges Design of…
The U.S. Federal Highway Administration has released a report that determines if the coarse bed materials equation could be used for conditions beyond those under which it is currently limited. Read the Report
The U.S. Federal Highway Administration’s Long-Term Bridge Performance (LTBP) program has issued the inaugural issue of the LTBP News. The newsletter is designed to highlight current developments and activities related to the program. Read LTBP News
TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 819: Self-Consolidating Concrete for Cast-in-Place Bridge Components presents recommended guidelines for the use of self-consolidating concrete (SCC) in cast-in-place highway bridge components. These guidelines address the selection of constituent materials, proportioning of concrete mixtures, testing methods, fresh and hardened concrete properties, production and quality control issues, and other aspects of…
The Florida Department of Transportation has released a report that revises the existing methodology for computing the bridge health index (BHI). Read the Report
The Institute for Transportation at Iowa State University has released a report that identifies significant influencing factors to consider for future updates to the Iowa DOT’s Instructional Memorandum 3.213, which provides guidelines for determining the need for traffic barriers at secondary roadway bridges. Read the Report
TRB’s Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA) Highway Project 172: Bidirectional-Ductile End Diaphragms for Seismic Performance and Substructure Protection explores the applications of ductile diaphragms for use as a seismic-resistance solution for short and medium span steel bridges in all seismic regions. The research focused on applications for new bridge design, but the information could be applied to existing…
The U.S. Federal Highway Administration has released a report that evaluates the service limit state of the design and analysis used for engineered fills for shallow foundation bridge supports. Read the Report
TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis 489: Extending Bridge Service Life Through Field Welded Repairs and Retrofits documents practices associated with field welded repairs on existing steel bridges used by bridge owners. The information presented includes the extent to which field welding is performed on existing bridges, common types of field welded repairs and retrofits, specifications, and…
On February 23, 2016, TRB’s Long-Term Bridge Performance (LTBP) Committee sent its sixth letter report to Gregory Nadeau, administrator of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). The committee provides advice and assistance on the conduct of the LTBP program, which is designed to collect research-quality data on a large representative sample of in-service U.S. highway bridges and to analyze…
TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis 487: Public Perception of Mileage-Based Use Fees explores proposals to replace the current motor fuel tax with a road usage charge assessed on vehicle-miles traveled, often called a mileage-base user fee (MBUF). The report identifies and assesses various measures of public opinion on the MBUF concept. Read NCHRP Synthesis 487
The Minnesota Department of Transportation has released a manual that presents timber maintenance and repair options that are designed to be simple and affordable. Read the Manual
TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 816: Guide for the Preservation of Highway Tunnel Systems provides guidance on making informed decisions using an asset management process to support prioritization of highway tunnel preservation actions. The guide explains how executives can incorporate and communicate capital funding needs for tunnel improvements as part of their overall transportation system…
TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA) program Report 158: The Stress State Identification of Critical Bridge Components Using Nonlinear Acoustics has released a report that examines the application of a nonlinear acoustics-based technique for identifying the stress state of critical highway bridge components through laboratory-scale and field testing. Read the Report E-Newsletter…
TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA) program Report 164: Laser Spectroscopy for Rapid Profiling of Steel Bridge Coating, Corrosion, and Heavy Metals has released a report that explores the development of laser-scanning technology that could provide direct measurement of the condition of bridge surfaces and undercoatings. The technology could assess the level…
TRB’s Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 2522 consists of 15 papers that explores bridges and structures, including: Full-Scale Implementation and Testing of Full-Depth Precast Bridge Deck Panels Mitigating Fatigue in Cantilevered Overhead Sign Structures Full-Scale Testing and Performance Evaluation of Rockfall Concrete Barriers Simple Approach to Calculate Displacements and Rotations in Integral Abutment…
Better Roads, 07 October 2015 Bobby Atkinson The completion of the $1.3 billion Bayonne Bridge “Raise the Roadway” project has been pushed back two years, with the renovated bridge now expected to be complete in 2019. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced October 1 that the delay in construction would mean the larger “post-Panamax” ships won’t be able…
Better Roads, 05 October 2015 Bobby Atkinson Drones could become the primary method for bridge inspections for the Minnesota Department of Transportation. The department has been impressed by the initial tests run with the technology and are planning to push its capabilities further with a second phase of testing next month. According to Minnesota Public Radio, MnDOT is getting ready…
Better Roads, 29 September 2015 Wayne Grayson Wayne Grayson| September 29, 2015 |
Better Roads, 02 October 2015 Chris Hill The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (LDOTD), Louisiana State Historic Preservation Office and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) are working together on a historic bridge management program to aid in preservation efforts for the structures. The “Programmatic Agreement” was “executed” October 1 and will last 20 years. It sets up planning…
PIARC Newsletter No. 55 is now available. Access the Internet Version
Better Roads, 25 September 2015 Chris Hill The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) is painting a grim picture of the economic impact on the state with current bridge funding and maintenance programs, estimating $94 billion in lost production value and a loss of 100,000 jobs over a 20-year period. The department’s 2015 Bridge Condition Report provides an overview of…
Better Roads, 29 April 2015 Bobby Atkinson The massive Left Coast Lifter places a pier cap in its first job for the new Tappan Zee Bridge project. Photo Credit: Peter Carr/The Journal News One of the largest cranes in the world was finally put to use in the Hudson River on Friday as it made its first lift in…
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
“Constructioneer”, August, 2014 Bridge maintenance and construction materials officials from Region 9 of the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) are evaluating non-Portland cement based concrete repair technology that was applied in a mid-June demonstration in Maine, New York, a community of 5,400 people in Broome County. Using a repair product based on magnesium aluminum liquid phosphate (MALP)…
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