Better Roads, 25 September 2015 Tom Kuennen The need for speed in construction is driving much of the bridge design in this country. The burden to accomplish faster bridge construction, however, falls on heavy contractors, who must work tougher schedules and longer workdays while they solve site organization, demolition, and foundation and superstructure erection puzzles not taught in college….
AASHTO Journal, 11 September 2015 The Minnesota and Wisconsin Departments of Transportation said Sept. 4 that the completion date for the bridge portion of the St. Croix Crossing project near Stillwater, Minn., will be delayed past the autumn of 2016 and into 2017. “This is a very complex engineering project,” said MnDOT Commissioner Charles Zelle. “This is only the…
AASHTO Journal, 4 September 2015 Some drivers heading north on Interstate 65 out of Lafayette, Ind., have been dealing with a long detour throughout August that might cost them as much as an extra hour, news reports say. But the Indiana Department of Transportation said its contractor projects that a damaged I-65 bridge should reopen to traffic by mid-September….
AASHTO Journal, 4 September 2015 The Missouri Department of Transportation said the number of bridges on state roads that it lists as “in critical need of attention has risen to 641 this summer from 591 a year ago. While those are still safe to drive over, MoDOT said such “critical condition bridges are the state’s worst, and with continued…
AASHTO Journal, 4 September 2015 The Rhode Island Department of Transportation said an accelerated inspection it conducted in recent months of 230 structurally deficient bridges led to emergency closures in a few areas and immediate repairs at 28 structures. RIDOT launched the special inspections program in May and finished on schedule by mid-August. It resulted in an emergency closure…
AASHTO Journal, 28 August 2015 At the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the Mississippi Department of Transportation is recalling how the storm left more than $1 billion in damages to the state’s transportation infrastructure, including destruction of two major bridges crossing bays along the Gulf Coast. The agency has also highlighted the rebuilding efforts it launched to bring the…
AASHTO Journal, 21 August 2015 North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory announced Aug. 18 that final roadblocks have been cleared away for the state Department of Transportation to proceed with building a new Herbert C. Bonner Bridge on NC 12 over the Oregon Inlet along the Outer Banks. Bonner Bridge “Completing the terms of a settlement agreement reached in June,…
AASHTO Journal, 7 August 2015 The South Dakota Transportation Commission has scheduled an Aug. 27 hearing to adopt rules that will govern a new $15 million annual grant fund to target local roadway bridge needs, with the grant request handled through the state Department of Transportation. That Bridge Improvement Grant fund was included in a wide-ranging transportation funding law…
AASHTO Journal, 24 July 2015 When fast-moving storm waters undermined a desert bridge in California and led to its July 19 collapse, the disruption to traffic on Interstate 10 quickly rose in concern both for that state and Arizona and became a rallying point on the U.S. Senate floor for a new highway bill. Within days, the U.S. Department…
AASHTO Journal, 17 July 2015 The Michigan Department of Transportation said it will replace a pedestrian overpass bridge in Detroit that was destroyed last September by an over-height truck strike, with the help of about $2.9 million in Federal Highway Administration emergency funds. The accident, which left the truck driver dead, pulled the bridge down onto the Southfield Freeway…
AASHTO Journal, 10 July 2015 The Ohio Department of Transportation has hired a contractor to quickly replace a major Interstate 70 bridge at Columbus, after it was destroyed July 1 when a tanker truck hauling ethanol overturned underneath that span and set off an intense fire. The U.S. Department of Transportation is providing $1 million in “quick release” funds…
AASHTO Journal, 19 June 2015 Major transportation industry groups urged Congress to avoid letting a highway and transit bill become a victim of political faceoffs this summer, asking lawmakers instead to provide funding certainty for agencies depending on those programs and renewing their calls for long-term legislation. Associations representing state departments of transportation, transit agencies and construction firms pressed…
AASHTO Journal, 19 June 2015 The Obama administration is taking formal steps to commission an independent report with a fast turnaround time that would “identify the most significant transportation and water infrastructure projects that are under consideration across the country based on their potential economic impact.” The Treasury Department issued a formal solicitation June 15 for contractor proposals to…
AASHTO Journal, 19 June 2015 The chairmen of Senate and House committees charged with finding revenue to pay for federal highway and transit programs both said they are seeking action to replenish the Highway Trust Fund beyond its July 31 expiration, but emphasized the difficulties of putting together a financing plan. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who chairs the Finance…
AASHTO Journal, 29 May 2015 Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo, along with House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello and Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed, unveiled a $700 million bonding plan for bridge improvements over the next decade that would cover the bond payments with new user fees on truck traffic. They called this “RhodeWorks” financing proposal “a bold action plan…
Better Roads, 29 April 2015 Chris Hill The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) will begin gathering new data on bridges that will report conditions down to the square foot surface area, rather than simply the overall condition. The “Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century” (MAP-21) Act requires this shift in data collection. As opposed to the previous overall…
AASHTO Journal, 17 April 2015 The New York State Department of Transportation and other agencies have begun work on a $15.6 million project to replace seven bridges in the Town of Keene that are at risk from flood scouring, part of 80 bridges approved so far for replacement by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the…
AASHTO Journal, 17 April 2015 U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said the Federal Highway Administration is issuing a $162 million low-interest, long-term TIFIA loan to help finance construction of the East End Crossing section of the Louisville-Southern Indiana Ohio River Bridges Project. “This project will relieve congestion and stimulate the economy of the entire Louisville-Southern Indiana region both today…
AASHTO Journal, 3 April 2015 State and local transportation agencies during 2014 were able to remove more than 2,000 bridges from the nationwide list of those rated structurally deficient, but 61,000 are still in that category, said the American Road & Transportation Builders Association. The ARTBA analysis of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Bridge Inventory database said the…
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
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, 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…
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…
AASHTO Journal, 3 October 2014 Jay Duck via Wikimedia Commons The transportation departments for Maine and New Hampshire have struck a tentative pricing agreement with Cianbro Corp., to replace the Sarah Mildred Long Bridge at a cost of $158.5 million. The project to build a new span between Portsmouth, N.H., and Kittery, Maine, over the Piscataqua River is slated…
The Pew Charitable Trusts has released a report that examines contributions from the states, federal government, and localities to the funding of highway and transit programs. Read the Report
AASHTO Journal, 29 August 2014 The Federal Highway Administration has made progress toward fully implementing safety provisions included in the 2012 MAP-21 surface transportation bill but the agency has much more to do, according to a new Office of Inspector General report released this week. According to the report, which was requested by House Transportation and Infrastructure Ranking Member…
AASHTO Journal, 15 August 2014 Image courtesy The Ohio River Bridges. The $2.3 billion project building a new Ohio River crossing between Louisville, Kentucky and southern Indiana will continue after the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last week upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit that sought to halt construction, alleging the project’s state partners – the Kentucky Transportation…
AASHTO Journal, 25 July 2014 Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe joined officials from the Virginia Department of Transportation last week announced plans to tackle a problematic point of congestion on one of Northern Virginia’s busiest interstates. McAuliffe and VDOT Secretary Aubrey Layne unveiled a proposal that would make several improvements to congestion-plagued I-66, including the delivery of three regular lanes…
AASHTO Journal, 18 July 2014 Last December, the Michigan Department of Transportation and the Mackinac Bridge Authority stalled scheduled toll hikes on the Mackinac Bridge due to department efficiencies—an announcement that was made again last week when the two entities announced they will forgo the scheduled toll increases “at least two more years.” Officials said the bridge did not…
AASHTO Journal, 11 July 2014 Kansas Department of Transportation officials recently launched a new program that will assist the state’s agriculture industry by helping localities fund bridge fixes. KDOT’s $10 million program, designed to cut the amount of deficient bridges on local road systems throughout the state, will provide up to $120,000 to counties (and possibly other local jurisdictions)…
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