TR News 347: Geofoam: Colorado’s Innovative Answer to an Emergency Highway Repair

In 2019, the Colorado Department of Transportation (DOT) was faced with a mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) bridge abutment failing catastrophically, closing U.S. 36 between Denver and Boulder. The geotechnical design subconsultants suggested the use of geofoam blocks to fast-track the project and get the embankment reconstructed prior to winter. "Geofoam: Colorado’s Innovative Answer to an Emergency Highway Repair," by Stephen Harelson, details how TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program research provided design guidelines and material and construction suggestions, as well as the engineering properties of the geofoam material and a summary of successful case histories. The article is one of the features in the September-December 2023 edition of TR News (Issue 347), TRB's magazine.

TR News is TRB's bimonthly magazine featuring timely articles on innovative and state-of-the-art research practice in all modes of transportation. It also includes brief news items of interest to the transportation community and research pays off articles, profiles of transportation professionals, workshop and conference announcements, new book notices, and news of TRB activities. Submissions of manuscripts for possible publication are accepted at any time. 

Copies of TR News may be purchased individually or ordered on an annual subscription basis by emailing TRBsales@nas.edu. TRB policy is to release the full PDF version of a TR News four months after its release in print format.