What's New in Bridges and Other Structures

TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 718: Fatigue Loading and Design Methodology for High-Mast Lighting Towers provides criteria for the fatigue design of high-mast lighting towers. The report also includes a series of proposed revisions with associated commentary to the fatigue design provisions of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Offic...

The spotlight theme for the TRB 92nd Annual Meeting, January 13-17, 2013, in Washington, D.C., is Deploying Transportation Research—Doing Things Smarter, Better, Faster. These uncertain times are also exciting times for the transportation community, which looks to build on its successes as never before. Spotlight sessions, workshops, and discussions at the TRB 92nd Annual Meeting will highlight...

The U.S. Federal Highway Administration has released a report that explores issues to consider when deploying ultra-high performance concrete construction material for the construction of prefabricated bridge elements and systems. 

TRB standing committees have issued  calls for papers for the TRB 92nd Annual Meeting, January 13-17, 2013, in Washington, D.C, and the Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board (TRR). While papers addressing any relevant aspect of transportation research will be considered, some committees are soliciting papers in specific subject areas to help potential...

The Utah Department of Transportation has released a report that explores monitoring concrete precast panels for bridge decks that are reinforced with Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) bars.

The Ohio Department of Transportation has released a report that explores the instrumentation, monitoring, and testing of the main span unit of one of Ohio’s first long-span, cable-stayed bridges.

The Ohio Department of Transportation has released a report that examines the application of a quantitative measuring strategy to measuring cracks in concrete bridge decks.  

The Institute of Transport Economics Norwegian Centre for Transport Research has released a report that describes the characteristics of fires and smoke without fire in Norwegian road tunnels during the last four years.

The Oregon Department of Transportation has released a report that evaluates laboratory tests on ten full-size reinforced concrete girders, representative of in-situ bridge members, to determine the performance of near surface mounted-carbon fiber reinforced polymer (NSM-CFRP) retrofitting for shear strengthening.

Roundabouts have seen unprecedented growth across the United States, from just a handful a decade ago to more than 2,000 and counting. National guidance had to keep pace with the needs of states and communities planning and implementing roundabouts, and NCHRP took a lead role.

On March 16, 2012, TRB’s Long-Term Bridge Performance (LTBP) Committee sent its first letter report to Victor Mendez, 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 thes...

In regions across the nation, bridge engineers know that the next major seismic event is coming—maybe tomorrow, maybe centuries from now. DOTs have the critical charge of designing for earthquakes and protecting the lives of travelers.

TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Web-Only Document 187: Seismic Design of Geosynthetic-Reinforced Soil Bridge Abutments with Modular Block Facing explores design methods and construction guidelines for using geosynthetic-reinforced soil (GRS) systems in bridge abutments in seismically active regions. The report focuses on single-span, simply-supported bridges subjecte...

The Oregon Department of Transportation has released a report that explores the use of a self-curing admixture for bridge deck concrete mixes.

The North Carolina State University College of Engineering has released the latest issue of its newsletter, which provides updates on the civil, construction, and environmental engineering activities taking place within the college.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has released a report that evaluates new and existing beam end coatings and treatments that may extend the life of new and existing concrete and steel bridge beams.

TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis 425: Waterproofing Membranes for Concrete Bridge Decks documents information on materials, specification requirements, design details, application methods, system performance, and costs of waterproofing membranes used on new and existing bridge decks since 1995. The synthesis focuses on North American practices with some info...

The U.S. Federal Highway Administration has released the latest update to its conditions and performance report series. The biennial report to Congress provides an appraisal of the physical conditions, operational performance, and financing mechanisms of highways, bridges, and transit systems based on the current state of these systems and on the projected future state of these systems under a ...

The Florida Department of Transportation has released a report that explores the cause of failures in several cantilever sign structures that occurred as a result of four major hurricanes during a six-week period, and explores design potential improvements that can be made to these structures.

The Institute for Transportation at Iowa State University has released a report that explores the construction of a two-lane single-span precast box girder bridge, which used accelerated bridge construction techniques.

The Institute for Transportation at Iowa State University has released a report that describes the field demonstration and testing of a newly-constructed, glued-laminated timber girder bridge.

The National Research Council Canada has released a report that describes a decision-making approach designed to address sustainable design and management of highway bridge decks.  Factors that the approach attempts to balance include minimization of the owner’s costs, users costs, and environmental impacts.

TRB is cosponsoring the 2013 International Highway Transportation Summit Innovative Approaches and Best Practices on April 17-19, 2013 in Beijing, China. The conference will include four tracks that will address highway engineering, bridge and tunnel structures engineering, traffic engineering, and environment and sustainability. The focus of the conference will be on inspection, maintenance, a...

TRB is cosponsoring the 29th International Bridge Conference (IBC 2012) on June 12-13, 2012, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Conference attendees will have the opportunity to participate in technical sessions, workshops, special interest sessions, and seminars. Topics that will be addressed during the conference include design, rehabilitation, construction, research, inspection, and rehabilitation...

The National Association of Counties has released a report that summarizes the results of a survey that explored the current conditions of county roads and bridges and how the recent economic slowdown has affected construction and maintenance funding.

TRB’s second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP 2) has released a Renewal Products Brief, which summarizes the status of products being produced within the Renewal area of SHRP 2. The goal of Renewal research in SHRP 2 is to advance the methods and materials that transportation agencies can use to renew the nation’s vital but aging highway system even as we continue to use and live n...

TRB’s second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP 2) has released a video that helps demonstrate how typical bridges can be replaced quickly and cost-effectively with accelerated techniques that do not require special equipment. The video highlights the specific techniques used to deliver a new bridge with only a 10-day closure. The design tool kit used in the project was developed through ...

The Federal Highway Administration has released a manual that covers the relevant issues related to orthotropic steel deck bridge engineering, including analysis, design, detailing, fabrication, testing, inspection, evaluation, and repair.

The Utah Department of Transportation has released a report that analyzes selected Utah bridges to further understand bridge behavior in a strong motion event and explores ways to design an instrumentation plan to collect data during strong motion incidents.

TRB’s second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP 2) has released a video that describes a new tool kit for designing and constructing bridges that is intended to help local contractors use typical equipment to build bridges quickly and efficiently. The tool kit was demonstrated in construction of a bridge over the Keg Creek near Council Bluffs, Iowa. The design reduced the road closur...