Photo Courtesy of Omega Morgan A 3,400-ton truss bridge slid onto a beam setup and traveled in an arc at a painstaking pace to avoid hitting nearby homes. Photo Courtesy of Omega Morgan Related Links: Vermont Bridge Slides Into Future A Bridge Slips And Slides Into Place Cleveland Crossing's Smooth Slide Massive Truss Rolls Into Place About eight inches per push—that is how the 3,400-ton Sellwood Bridge moved forward on Jan. 19 in Portland, Ore. The owner, Multnomah County, moved the 87-year-old, 1,100-ft-long steel truss 66 ft to the north using the span as a detour bridge, while a joint
Photo Courtesy of INDOT Related Links: P3 Planned For Ohio River Bridges Big Plans Anticipate Big Freight Moves Spending private money to fund infrastructure is nothing new to Indiana, whose Interstate 69 project through the state's southwestern quadrant is called the largest all-new federal highway under construction in the U.S. Four years after its groundbreaking, nearly half of the 142-mile-long stretch opened in November. It was funded in part by a $3.8-billion lease of the Indiana Toll Road in 2006. As the project moves into its next phase, the Indiana Dept. of Transportation is again looking for private investors.The future
Related Links: For Panamax Port Expansions, The Freight Wait is Almost Over Taking Asphalt's Temperature From automated vehicles to infrared bars that check for uniform temperatures in paved asphalt, the transportation industry is embracing high-tech tools and concepts. The current two-year federal legislation called MAP-21 promotes many such initiatives, including enhanced intelligent construction data, to help builders and operators achieve greater efficiency, reliability and safety in moving people and goods.MAP-21 also includes an emphasis on improved freight networks—a watershed inclusion that inspired multiple sessions at the Transportation Research Board's 92nd annual meeting on Jan. 13-17. The sessions consistently featured representatives
Related Links: New MassDOT Chief Plans Outreach Bridge Work Garners $7 Million Incentive The Massachusetts Dept. of Transportation hopes to spend $5.2 billion over 10 years on roads and bridges, including $1.17 billion on an accelerated bridge program.MassDOT released its plan on Jan. 14, stating the need for $1.02 billion in average annual new revenue to operate and expand. MassDOT Secretary Richard Davey says the plan involves eliminating bad practices in operating deficits in the highway and Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority operations."We paid for almost $250 million in highway operations off the state credit card—that would end [under the plan],"
Photo Courtesy of the MTA Storm barriers are just one of dozens of suggestions in a draft report after Sandy. Photo Courtesy of the MTA Related Links: Gov. Cuomo Announces Appointments to Emergency Preparedness Commission Draft of the NYS 2100 Commission Report Pressurized Tunnel Plug Claims to be Affordable Alternative to Permanent Floodgates Storm Surge Switches Grid To Off A draft report commissioned by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) in response to Superstorm Sandy reads like a catalogue of every wish list item on every infrastructure advocate's agenda—from flood-specific recommendations for building storm surge barriers around New York to
Photo Courtesy of S&R/Pihl, a Joint Venture New steel arches for a new Pawtucket River Bridge were rolled and jacked into place in a scheme devised to shave time off a project delayed by difficult access conditions and other issues. Related Links: Project Information from ENR Pulse An $81-million steel arch bridge project, now in its third year and third phase, has featured both high-fives and hand-wringing in Rhode Island. Completion of a new 352-ft-long open spandrel Pawtucket River Bridge, with three structures, is now slated for August rather than June. Innovative methods helped make up for time lost to
Rail grade separations. Revamped locks and dams. Toll roads and bridges. Dredging. These components are some of the most "'glamorous parts of the infrastructure conversation in the U.S.," says Pierce Homer, the American Road & Transportation Builders Association's ports-and-waterways co-chairman and Moffatt & Nichol's transportation director.
ENR pointed its spotlight on some of the nation's most troubled infrastructure throughout 2012 with its ongoing Critical Infrastructure series, which chronicled how engineers are grappling with some of the biggest infrastructure challenges in a generation.