Performance of Bridges That Received Funding Under the Innovative Bridge Research and Construction Program

TRB Special Report 330: Performance of Bridges That Received Funding Under the Innovative Bridge Research and Construction Program, examines the results of a federal program to promote innovation in highway bridge construction. The report provides recommendations to Congress on how the installed and life-cycle costs of bridges could be reduced through the use of innovative materials and technologies.

The Innovative Bridge Research and Construction (IBRC) program, created by act of Congress, provided state departments of transportation with a total of $128.7 million in grants as incentives for use of innovative materials and technology to construct or repair approximately 400 bridges from 1999 to 2005.

Materials used included fiber-reinforced polymer composites, high-performance concrete, high-performance steel, and corrosion resistant reinforcing bar. Projects also demonstrated accelerated bridge construction (ABC) techniques. Congress directed the U.S. Department of Transportation to commission the Transportation Research Board (TRB) to study the performance of the bridges that received funding in the IBRC program.

The committee that produced the report provides an analysis of the performance of bridges that received IBRC funding and the extent that they met the goals of the program. The committee also provides an analysis of the utility, compared to conventional materials and technologies, of the innovative materials and technologies used in IBRC projects in meeting needs for a sustainable and low life-cycle cost transportation system.