517-432-8220 ncpp@egr.msu.edu

I-5 Columbia River Bridge Plan may have Hope

Tom Warne Report, 18 August 2013 The Associated Press – August 7, 2013 PORTLAND, Ore. – Washington lawmakers’ refusal to front their $450 million share of the I-5 bridge replacement between Portland and Vancouver seems to be clinging to life, even as the project’s office is preparing to shut down. Planners are requesting a permit from the Coast Guard…

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MassDOT Begins I-95 “Mega” Bridge Project to Increase Capacity and Provide Multi-Modal Access

AASHTO Journal, 16 August 2013 Massachusetts Department of Transportation Secretary and CEO Richard Davey was joined by Gov. Deval Patrick and other federal, state, and local officials last week to begin work on a major bridge project designed to increase capacity on an I-95 bridge while also providing bike and pedestrian access. Officials official broke ground last Thursday, Aug….

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New York State DOT Completes Bridge Work in Four Days through Innovative Construction

AASHTO Journal, 16 August 2013 The New York State Department of Transportation this week announced the completion of a bridge renovation project in Westchester County in just four days through innovative construction methods, which cut the project construction time by months. NYSDOT unveiled the $1.5 million Hutchinson River Parkway bridge renovation project Sunday, just days after beginning Tuesday. The…

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Colorado DOT Improves Safety, Reliability through Bridge Enterprise Program

AASHTO Journal, 16 August 2013 The Colorado Department of Transportation announced Monday that 95 percent of the state’s bridges were rated in fair or good condition, just four years after implementing the Funding Advancement for Surface Transportation and Economic Recovery (FASTER) legislation. In 2009, legislators enacted FASTER, which created the Colorado Bridge Enterprise (CBE) to finance, rehabilitate, and replace…

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Bay Bridge Wind Vortex Panels Fend off Swaying Disaster

Tom Warne Report, 13 August 2013 Contra Costa Times – August 5, 2013 OAKLAND – Efforts to keep the new Bay Bridge collapsing amid strong winds are underway as ironworkers are hanging 700 square steel plates beneath the deck. The panels are intended to fend off the strong forces that resulted in the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge…

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MnDOT announces New Procurement Method for Winona Bridge project

Tom Warne Report, 5 August 2013 MnDOT News Release – July 22, 2013 ROCHESTER, Minn. – The Minnesota Department of Transportation has announced the selection of the Construction Manager General Contractor procurement method to deliver the Winona Bridge project, marking the first use of CMGC on a MnDOT project. With CMGC, a contracting team is hired during the design…

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New Hampshire, Maine DOTs Celebrate Opening of Memorial Bridge

AASHTO Journal, 9 August 2013 Officials from the New Hampshire and Maine Departments of Transportation joined members of the community this week to mark the opening the new Memorial Bridge, which connects Portsmouth, N.H. to Kittery, Maine over the Piscataqua River. The original Memorial Bridge was built in 1922 and had experienced deterioration over time, prompting NHDOT and MaineDOT…

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State DOTs Take Home Transportation Awards in Western Regional Competition

AASHTO News, 5 August 2013 SAN FRANCISCO – Transportation projects that upgraded an international port of entry, rehabilitated a freight rail line vital to agricultural communities, and expanded a major highway years early and hundreds of millions of dollars under budget were among the recipients of top honors in the western regional America’s Transportation Awards competition. “The entries we…

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Application Process Now Open for Round 2 of SHRP2 Implementation Assistance Program

AASHTO Journal, 5 August 2013 The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials and the Federal Highway Administration announced today that applications for the second round of the second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP2) Implementation Assistance are officially being accepted. In an email sent to the chief executive officials of the state departments of transportation, AASHTO and FHWA…

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Hydraulic Design of Safe Bridges

The National Highway Institute’s (NHI) 3.5-day 135090 Hydraulic Design of Safe Bridges course provides participants with an intensive training on the hydraulic analysis and design of bridges. The goal of this course is to provide information needed to safely build bridges, while optimizing costs and limiting the impact to property and the environment. This engaging course includes 14 mandatory…

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Oregon DOT Completes & Opens Interstate Bridge Months Ahead of Schedule

AASHTO Journal, 2 August 2013 Representatives from the Oregon Department of Transportation were joined by elected and federal officials and community members last week to celebrate the early completion of the I-5 Whilamut Passage Bridge in Eugene, a project aimed at cutting congestion and improving the local economy through better freight movement. The new northbound bridge, which now accompanies…

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FHWA Proposes Changes to Tunnel Inspection Standards to Reflect MAP-21

AASHTO Journal, 2 August 2013 The Federal Highway Administration this week published a Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking this week in the Federal Register, seeking comments on the revised National Tunnel Inspection Standards. The changes stem from the passage of the current transportation bill, MAP-21, and the need to address provisions made in the law. The notice seeks to…

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VIDEO: Colorado DOT crews complete I-70 bridge replacement ahead of schedule

Better Roads – e Road Pro Daily by Amanda Bayhi The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) reopened Interstate 70 on Monday morning following a weekend of bridge work. CDOT announced the section of road, located between Interstate 25 and Federal Boulevard, opened approximately 4.5 hours ahead of schedule. More than 1,000 visited the viewing area over the weekend to…

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Strength and Serviceability Design of Reinforced Concrete Inverted-T Beams

The Center for Transportation Research at the University of Texas at Austin has released a report that evaluates diagonal cracking in reinforced concrete inverted-T straddle bent caps by examining variables such as quantity of web reinforcement and number of point loads. Read the Report

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Legal Aspects of Performance-Based Specifications for Highway Construction and Maintenance Contracts

TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Legal Research Digest 61: Legal Aspects of Performance-Based Specifications for Highway Construction and Maintenance Contracts explores how performance-based specifications differ from traditional design or method-based specifications and the risk allocation differences between the these methods. Read NCHRP Legal Research Digest 61

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Indiana, Kentucky Transportation Departments Break Ground on Downtown Crossing of Ohio River Bridges Project

AASHTO Journal, 21 June 2013 State officials from Indiana and Kentucky joined federal officials and community members Tuesday to celebrate the groundbreaking of the Ohio River Bridges Project’s Downtown Crossing, which will provide a new link over the Ohio River for the two states. The $1.3 billion project will include a new bridge that will carry six lanes of…

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