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…
Better Roads, 29 November 2013 Amanda Bayhi The recent drop in transportation infrastructure spending has some highway contractors moving to other fields such and energy exploration, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. The highway construction industry lost more than 2 million workers during the recession, reaching a low in January 2011. Since then, the industry has…
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)…
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…
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