July/August TB 2015

July-August 2015 TransportationBuilder 1

builder® July-August 2015www.transportationbuilder.org

• Market Conditions• Project Profiles

ANNUAL BRIDGE REPORT

ARTBA Foundation 30th Anniversary

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JULYAUGUST2015VOL. 27, NO. 4contents

The official publication of the American Road & Transportation Builders Association

www.transportationbuilder.org

COLUMNSChairman’s Message

President’s Desk

Legislative & Regulatory Issues

Bridge Policy & Promotion Council

AEM Corner

TransportationBuilder 3

ON THE COVER

FEATURES

Rebuilding the Fox River Bridge

The Keystone State Begins Ambitious Bridge Program, Despite Taking a Pause for the Pope

Making Headway on Bridge Repair and Maintenance

Bridge Market Growing, Lack of Long-Term Transportation Bill Clouds Future

Acrow Delivers Temporary Bridge to Windy City

U.S. Route 9/Woodbridge Township, New Jersey

Washington Bridge Becomes Symbol of Transportation Funding Failure

ARTBA Foundation: 30 Years Supporting Research, Education & Public Awareness

Like a Bridge Under Trafficked Waters

Tappan Zee Bridge Replacement Rapidly Taking Shape

202122

On the cover: Benjamin Franklin Bridge in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

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30

68

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10

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32DEFICIENT BRIDGES

NEW PROJECTS

PENNSYLVANIA POSTCARDS

BRIDGE MAINTENANCE

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July-August 2015

July-August 20154 TransportationBuilder

StaffPUBLISHERT. Peter [email protected]

DEPUTY PUBLISHER Matt [email protected]

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Mark [email protected]

PUBLICATIONS EDITOR & GRAPHIC DESIGNERJenny [email protected]

CONTRIBUTING WRITERSBrian J. AtkinsonDewberry Engineers Inc. senior project engineer, structural engineering

Dr. Alison Premo BlackARTBA chief economist

Nick GoldsteinARTBA vice president of environmental & regulatory affairs

Mark HolanARTBA editorial director

Eileen HoulihanARTBA senior writer/editor

Matt JeanneretARTBA senior vice president of communications & marketing

Allison KleinARTBA vice president of member services

Rob Koss, P.E.Stanley Consultants Chicago Office operations manager

Darrell WatersTappan Zee Constructors president & project executive

Transportation Builder® (TB) is the official publication of the American Road & Transportation Builders Association, a federation whose primary goal is to aggressively grow and protect transportation infrastructure investment to meet the public and business demand for safe and efficient travel. In support of this mission, ARTBA also provides programs and services designed to give its members a global competitive edge. As the only national publication specifically geared toward transportation development professionals, TB represents the primary source of business, legislative and regulatory news critical to the success and future of the transportation construction industry.

Transportation Builder® (ISSN 1043-4054) is published bi-monthly by the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA). Postmaster: Send change of address to Transportation Builder®, c/o ARTBA, The ARTBA Building, 1219 28th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20007. Phone: 202-289-4434, Fax: 202-289-4435, www.artba.org; [email protected]. Periodicals postage paid at Washington, D.C., and additional mailing offices. Subscriptions are $105/year for ARTBA members, which is included in the dues; $120/year for non-members; and $200/year non-U.S. mailing addresses. Copyright ©2015 ARTBA. All rights reserved. Material may not be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. Reg. U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.

Visit us: www.transportationbuilder.org

builder®

Executive CommitteeChairman: Nick Ivanoff Ammann & Whitney, New York, N.Y.

Senior Vice Chairman: David S. ZachryZachry Construction Corporation, San Antonio, Texas

First Vice Chairman: Robert E. AlgerThe Lane Construction Corporation, Cheshire, Conn.

Northeastern Region Vice Chairman: Dave GehrParsons Brinckerhoff, Herndon, Va.

Southern Region Vice Chairman: Tom ElmoreEutaw Construction Company, Aberdeen, Miss.

Central Region Vice Chairman: Kathi HolstRoadway Construction & Maintenance Services, Warrenville, Ill.

Western Region Vice Chairman: Steve McGoughHCSS, Sugar Land, Texas

Vice Chairman At-Large: Ward NyeMartin Marietta Materials, Inc., Raleigh, N.C.

Vice Chairman At-Large: Scott L. CasselsKiewit Infrastructure Group, Inc., Kiewit Corporation, Omaha, Neb.

Vice Chairman At-Large: Melissa TooleySouthwest Region University Transportation Center, Texas A&M Transportation Institute, College Station, Texas

Vice Chairman At-Large: John R. KulkaHRI, Inc., State College, Pa.

Vice Chairman At-Large: Mike DonninoGranite Construction Company, Lewisville, Texas

Vice Chairman At-Large: Paul Acito3M Traffic Safety & Security Division, St. Paul, Minn.

Treasurer: Tom HillSummit Materials, LLC, Denver, Colo.

Secretary: Pete RuaneARTBA, Washington, D.C.

ARTBA-TDF Board of Trustees Chairman: Leo Vecellio, Jr.Vecellio Group, Inc., West Palm Beach, Fla.

ARTBA-TDF Board of Trustees Vice Chairman: Paul YarossiHNTB, New York, N.Y.

Contractors Division President: Jeff ClydeW.W. Clyde & Co., Springville, Utah

Contractors Division First Vice President: Tim DuitTTK Construction, Edmond, Okla.

Research & Education Division President: Lily ElefterladouUniversity of Florida, Gainesville, Fla.

AEM Representative: Ron DeFeoTEREX Corporation, Westport, Conn.

Materials & Services Division President: Randy LakeOldcastle Materials, Inc., Atlanta, Ga.

Planning & Design Division President: Tim FaerberHNTB Corporation, Chicago, Ill.

Public-Private Partnerships Division President: Matt GirardPlenary Concessions, Denver, Co.

Traffic Safety Industry Division President: Sue ReissImpact Recovery Systems, San Antonio, Texas

Transportation Officials Division President: Paul GrunerMontgomery County Engineers’s Office, Dayton, Ohio

Council of State Executives: Mike PepperMississippi Road Builders Association, Jackson, Miss.

Immediate Past ARTBA Chairman: Doug BlackJohn Deere Landscapes, Alpharetta, Ga.

Past Chairman’s Council Chairman: Jim MadaraGannett Fleming, Allentown, Pa.

Young Executive Leadership Council Chairman: Ponch FrankRanger Construction Industries, West Palm Beach, Fla.

Joint Committee Representative: Matt CummingsAECOM, Philadelphia, Pa.

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editor’s note

Mark HolanEditorial Director

Jenny RagonePublication’s Editor & Graphic Designer

ARTBA’s second annual look at deficient bridges got plenty of media attention when it was released this spring. USA Today, the Washington Post and Houston Chronicle were among the big daily newspapers that ran stories, along with dozens of television and radio stations that also covered the report.

The ARTBA analysis revealed more than 61,000 structurally deficient bridges nationwide are in need of significant repair. That’s over 2,000 fewer than the previous year, which means important work is being doing to repair and replace those troubled spans, removing them from the list.

Projects in Chicago and Woodbridge Township, New Jersey, are two good examples. Read about them on page 24 and 25, respectively. We’ve also got stories about how Pennsylvania—which tops the list of states with most structurally deficient bridges—is tackling this problem (page 34), as well as some of the latest innovations in bridge maintenance and repair (page 36).

Obviously, we can’t show you videos on the printed page. But we can direct you to online videos of several of the projects featured in this issue of TB.

Just go to the Transportation Builder section of the ARTBA website: www.transportationbuilder.org. There, look for a directory that contains video links, usually on public agency or company websites that contain other material that might be of interest.

The TB editorial staff is planning the 12th Annual “Through the Lens” issue for September/October featuring outstanding photos of transportation infrastructure projects from across the nation.

Send photographs of your best infrastructure projects to ARTBA’s Jenny Ragone at [email protected]. Submissions must be received by Friday, Sept. 18. Here are the entry guidelines:

• Maximum of two photos per member company; • Images should be at least 300 dpi and saved in either TIF or JPG format. Do not send images over 10MB; and • Be sure to include captions detailing the name of the project and its location, photographers name, and submitting company.

TB editorial staff will make final decisions on photos to be included.

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projects across the country and around the world, including the fire-breathing Dragon Bridge in Da Nang, Vietnam. Other recent work by our firm includes the George Washington Bridge rehabilitation and East Span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, plus smaller spans like the historic East Broad Street Bridge in Tamaqua, Pennsylvania (page 34).

Bridges are the main focus of this issue, though we’ve also included a story about a fascinating tunnel project in the Hampton Roads region of Southeast Virginia.

ARTBA Chief Economist Dr. Alison Premo Black offers the approach span with her analysis of bridge market conditions. She says it looks like the market is on pace to continue at record levels, though federal dollars remain key to long-term stability and moving projects forward into the construction phase. See page 18.

Allison Klein, ARTBA’s vice president of member services, also reviews the work of the Bridge Policy and Promotion Council (BPPC), which was formed in 2008 by a group of industry leaders who wanted to grow and improve the U.S. bridge market and address major policy issues. The BPPC aims to educate members on the latest technologies, delivery methods and market developments in the bridge sector. Her column is on page 43.

For the second consecutive year, Dr. Black and ARTBA staff produced a report of U.S. deficient bridges based on the 2014 U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Bridge Inventory database. The report’s good news was that there are over 2,000 fewer structurally deficient structures than in 2013. In this issue you can read about some of the innovative work to repair

from the chairman

Nick IvanoffPresident & CEOAmmann & Whitney 2015 ARTBA Chairman

Bridges are Among the Most Important Built Objects in the World

Most of us cross one or more bridges every day. If not, surely many of

the goods that are critical to our daily and business lives have been transported over multiple bridges before reaching us. Not everything happens on the Internet. Bridges also connect people and communities.

Bridges should always be functional and safe. They are often very beautiful, inspiring poets and painters. Several bridges have become world-famous, such as those in New York, San Francisco, London and Sydney. But even lesser-known spans can be the pride of local communities.

My fascination with bridges began as a boy in Brooklyn, where I witnessed construction of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. It was designed by Othmar Ammann, one of the founders of the firm I now have the privilege of leading. I studied engineering at Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, within view of the iconic Brooklyn Bridge.

In my 35-plus-year career as a registered civil engineer I’ve been involved with dozens of major bridge

and replace bridges in places like Chicago and Woodbridge Township, New Jersey; plus construction that’s unrelated to the deficient bridge list, such as the Fox River project in Illinois and the Tappan Zee Bridge replacement in New York.

The report’s bad news was the list still has more than 61,000 structurally deficient bridges in need of significant repair. It’s a problem that impacts all 50 states, and it also hits very close to Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

Just a month after ARTBA released its report, the National Park Service closed two lanes of the Arlington Memorial Bridge, which spans the Potomac River between Arlington National Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial. New weight limits resulted in prohibiting tourist buses from crossing the historic bridge between these popular destinations. Repair work is set to begin in late August (see page 26), but the bridge has become symbolic of our nation’s failure to adequately fund transportation infrastructure.

Now that the Senate has acted and passed a multi-year transportation bill with strong bipartisan backing, the pressure is on the House to act on its version of the bill this fall. ARTBA will continue pushing for increased investment in highways and bridges in any final measure that emerges from Congress.

A strong reauthorization package will mean safer and more efficient personal and business travel for our nation, more work for ARTBA members and its affiliated economic development, and fewer deficient bridges on next year’s list.


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president’s desk

Pete RuanePresident & CEOARTBA

10-year wait. Our fight—and yours—continues.

Even with some reductions, highway investment under the DRIVE Act’s first three years would grow at annual rates ranging from 3.1 percent to 3.5 percent—a $4 billion increase by 2018. By comparison, highway investment grew by 1.4 percent annually under the two-year MAP-21 surface transportation law.

While everyone will agree that the DRIVE Act’s investment levels aren’t what they should be, politics on Capitol Hill these days is the art of the doable. It’s hard to find any major piece of domestic policy legislation that increases federal investment in anything, let alone getting legislation to pass by a wide bipartisan majority as happened with the DRIVE Act. So, in that context, the recent developments are positive.

Nevertheless, ARTBA, its coalition allies and our industry still have a lot of work to do as N.F.L. football training camps open, and we are not going to take a five-week recess like Congress. Our focus going forward will be on the House. Let’s start by reminding them of what they said in the summer of 2014, when they passed the extension to May 31, which they’ve now punted two more times.

Here are examples from two key members:

• “By funding surface transportation programs through May 2015, this legislation provides … Congress time to continue working on a long-term funding solution and a surface transportation reauthorization bill. … This bill in no way precludes Congress from continuing to work on addressing a long-term funding solution, and a long-term reauthorization bill remains a top

Senate Passes Long-Term Transportation Bill; Hands Ball off to House

The late July enactment by Congress of yet another short-term extension of

federal surface transportation programs, to Oct. 29, was a continuation of an all too familiar—and disappointing— pattern.

We’ve all seen too much of this “punt and leave the stadium” approach over the past several years. Another delay is not a win. That said, there are reasons to be hopeful.

Before Congress skedaddled out of Washington for a five-week break, the U.S. Senate passed a six-year reauthorization bill with a bipartisan 65 votes. And House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster expressed his desire to move forward on a long-term bill this September. That’s significant progress. Here’s why: until the Senate passed the “Developing a Reliable and Innovative Vision for the Economy (DRIVE) Act,” neither chamber had approved any surface transportation legislation longer than two years since 2005.

In that context, a three-month delay doesn’t seem so bad compared to a

priority for the Transportation Committee.”—July 10, 2014, statement by Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.)

• “H.R. 5021 [the bill] provides the necessary funds to keep the federal highway and transit programs running while Congress develops legislation to set these programs on a sound financial footing for the long term.”—July 15, 2014, statement by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), now chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee

We have plenty of other examples of such comments from other members of the House, as well as the Senate. The point is this: with Senate passage of the DRIVE Act, the latest three-month extension should bring to a close once and for all claims that Congress needs “more time” to develop a long-term reauthorization bill and Highway Trust Fund solution. If the House doesn’t like the DRIVE Act, then let them put something better on the table.

For more than a year, members of both parties and both chambers have been kicking the reauthorization can down the road. The time for any further short-term extensions is over.

As always, we continue to need your help. Unless House members feel pressure from back home, the tendency to do the very least they can to get by will likely persist. While your representatives are home during August, please meet with them face-to-face or invite them to your office or job site.

Here are the points we suggest you convey to them:

• The House does not have to like the Senate bill or take up the Senate bill, but it does have to act.


president’s desk

• House T&I Committee Chairman Shuster has said his committee plans to produce a multi-year bill in September. We need you to support that process going forward.

• Most importantly, we are asking you to back efforts in the Ways & Means Committee to generate new trust fund resources to not only fill the $15 billion annual gap between current spending levels and incoming trust fund revenues, but also to ensure any multi-year bill grows surface transportation investment beyond simple inflationary adjustments.

MEETINGSNATIONAL CONVENTION | SEPT. 29-OCT. 1 | HILTON PHILADELPHIA PENN’S LANDING | PHILADELPHIA, PA.

DR. J. DON BROCK TRANSOVATION WORKSHOP | NOV. 16-18 | 3M INNOVATION CENTER | ST. PAUL, MINN.

REGIONAL MEETINGS

SOUTHERN: DEC. 2-3 | LOUISVILLE, KY.

WESTERN: DEC. 7-8 | LAS VEGAS, NEV.

NORTHEASTERN: DEC. 9-10 | PROVIDENCE, R.I.

CENTRAL: DEC. 14-15 | KANSAS CITY, MO.

2015 ARTBA

• You were elected to address important national issues. Do your part to end the eight-year cycle of short-term bills and temporary trust fund bailouts.

Finally, we’ve updated the ARTBA Grassroots Action Center: http://www.tmaw.com/take-action/ so you can communicate with your congressman via email, Twitter and Facebook from your mobile phone or tablet in less than a minute. Press secretaries from a congressman’s office are monitoring their social media feeds every day. These platforms provide an excellent forum for you to personally engage with your representative.

Collectively, we’re moving the ball down the field; fighting hard for every yard. No one ever said it would be easy. And no doubt, there will be “ideological defenses” trying to stop our progress this fall.

We ask you to stay on the field with us and continue to grind it out. Our win comes when the Congress passes and the president signs a long-term bill that boosts investment in the federal highway and public transit program.


by Eileen Houlihan, Mark Holan and Matt Jeanneret

YEARSARTBA Foundation:

Supporting Research, Education & Public Awareness

Ronald Reagan was just beginning his second term as president when ARTBA’s Board of Directors set aside a

small pool of money to create the “Research, Education and Development” Foundation, known then as the “RED Fund.”

The new organization was tasked with operating “exclusively for educational and scientific purposes.” According to the RED Fund’s Agreement & Declaration of Trust, donations, contributions and funds were to be used for: “a) the

instruction of training of individuals for the purpose of improving or developing their capabilities; or, b) the instruction of the public on subjects useful to individuals, beneficial to the community, and related to the design, construction, safety and maintenance of transportation facilities of any kind; or c) the conduct of research and development for the benefit of the public and in the public interest.”

30


Supporting Research, Education & Public Awareness

The original trustees of the organization, chartered on July 17, 1985, were:

• Gary L Godbersen, GOMACO Corp. • Judson Matthias, University of Arizona; • Charles Machemehl, Vulcan Materials Co.; • Thomas Raemisch, F.C. Raemisch & Son, Inc.; • James I. Taylor, University of Notre Dame; • Thomas E. Wilson, III, APAC Georgia Inc.; and • Gerald R. Cichy, ARTBA Executive Vice President.

Raemisch, a past ARTBA contractors division president and former president of the Wisconsin Transportation Builders Association, was elected as the fund’s first chairman a few months later, in October 1985.

“We need to commend the leaders of that time for having the vision to see the need for the foundation and recognizing its potential,” said ARTBA President & CEO Pete Ruane, who joined the association three years after the RED Fund was established. “It was a tremendous platform, but it was really an underutilized asset at the time.”

From it humble beginnings, the RED Fund today has grown into a multi-million dollar program of work that includes

educational scholarships, roadway work zone safety training programs, awards, professional development academies, unique conferences and special events, special economic reports and a national exhibition on transportation at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.

The ARTBA Board changed the name to the “Transportation Development Foundation,” or ARTBA-TDF, in February 1992.

“The vision that ARTBA had many, many years ago has gelled with the TDF and now we work arm-in-arm,” says current TDF Chairman Leo Vecellio, Jr., chairman & CEO of Vecellio Group in West Palm Beach, Florida. “We have a program that’s now between $3 million and $4 million a year. I think the founders would be surprised at the scope and the breadth and the size of the programs we now have, and I think the founders would be proud.”

TDF Chairman Leo Vecellio, Jr.


Young Executive Development Program One of the Foundation’s signature initiatives is the Young Executive Development Program (YEDP), which is marking its 20th anniversary this year. The YEDP helps develop the next generation of leaders in the design and construction industry through an intensive introduction to federal and state advocacy for the transportation infrastructure market. Two and one-half days of sessions provide them with a solid understanding of transportation sector economics; how road, bridge and transit work in the U.S. is funded and financed; how actions by the federal government impact the industry; and how they—and their company or agency—can become politically engaged to help shape transportation policy.

“The Young Executive Development Program was basically my introduction to ARTBA,” said current TDF Trustee Steve Wright, a 1998 YEDP graduate and the program’s first alum to be elected ARTBA chairman, in 2012.

“YEDP introduced me to a world that I’d never had any exposure to,” Wright said. “I’d worked in the industry all my life, but I didn’t understand funding, I didn’t understand how it all happened. YEDP taught me all that. It was kind of like putting it in your DNA.”

More than 600 people from 250 companies, public agencies and ARTBA state contractor chapters have graduated from the program, which is held every spring in conjunction with ARTBA’s annual Federal Issues Program and Transportation Construction Coalition Fly-In.

In addition to the educational sessions and networking with their peers and industry veterans, YEDP participants also have the opportunity to meet with their members of Congress to discuss long-term highway and transit funding and public policy issues.

“It gives you a great foundation in understanding all the issues. That’s really what leadership is all about in a volunteer association,” Wright said. “You never know who is going to be the next leader. But even if they don’t become chairman, they are success stories because no matter where they go, what part of the industry they are part of, they still have that YEDP experience in them.”

Many of the YEDP graduates are now personally involved in helping shape the future of the association. The Young Executive Leadership Task Force, launched in late 2014 by ARTBA Chairman Nick Ivanoff, is developing “specific recommenda-tions for the consideration of the ARTBA Board of Directors on how to expand the association’s base of younger industry executives (aka “millennials”) and better engage them in its activities, leadership structure and advocacy core mission.”

The group’s co-chairs are Ponch Frank, vice president, Ranger Construction, West Palm Beach, Fla., and Jihane Fazio, project manager, AECOM, Philadelphia, Pa.

The Task Force is finalizing a comprehensive report of recommendations for consideration and approval by the full ARTBA Board.

ARTBA TDF Board of TrusteesLeo Vecellio, Jr. (Chairman) Chairman & CEO, Vecellio Group West Palm Beach, Fla.

Paul Yarossi President & CEO, HNTB Holdings New York, N.Y.

Bill Cox President, Corman Construction Annapolis Junction, Md.

Tom Hill CEO, Summit Materials Denver, Colo.

Dave Gehr Senior Vice President, Parsons Brinckerhoff Herndon, Va.

Charlie Potts Chairman of the Board, Heritage Construction & Materials Indianapolis, Ind.

Pete Ruane President & CEO, ARTBA Washington, D.C.

Larry C. Tate Product Director, Caterpillar Inc. East Peoria, Ill.

Rich Wagman Chairman, Wagman Heavy Civil, Inc. York, Pa.

Steve Wright President, Wright Brothers Construction Charleston, Tenn.

Nick Ivanoff President & CEO, Ammann & Whitney New York, N.Y.


Safety Training Safety training and a variety of first-of-its-kind conferences have distinguished the ARTBA-TDF from other industry groups.

To reduce worker fatalities and injuries, TDF’s safety team and its partners have provided in-person training to more than 75,000 members of the transportation construction industry in recent years. Much of this training has come through contracts with the Federal Highway Administra-tion (FHWA) and Occupational Safety & Health Administration that the ARTBA Foundation won in a competitive process against other industry groups. As a result, the TDF has no doubt helped reduce the number of accidents and injuries on job sites.

In June, along with FHWA, the TDF’s safety team also launched a free, online learning system to bolster roadway construction safety training. The new Safety Learning Management System, provides safety professionals, traffic engineers and roadway construction workers free, 24/7 access to high- quality training and education from the convenience of their desktop computers. A wide range of new material on key topics was created for the online education environment.

Conferences In 1985, the TDF, in partnership with FHWA, held the nation’s first “National Conference in Highway Work Zone Safety” in Washington, D.C. Together, they held a second national conference in 1994. And it was followed up with the first international conference in St. Louis back in 2001.

In total, TDF has hosted nearly 20 national and international conferences, and today uses a virtual meeting platform to provide educational content on work zone issues through LōTrans™, the Local Transportation Management & Safety Virtual Conference.

“The Clearinghouses” Two game changers that helped transform the way the industry receives educational content and technical information emerged from the TDF-managed National Work Zone Safety Information Clearinghouse and the Local Technical Assistance Program Clearinghouse.

Established in 1998, www.workzonesafety.org, is the world’s largest online library of free information on topics such as: accident and crash data, latest technologies and equipment, best practices, key safety expert contact information, laws and regulations,

safety standards, news and research publications, training videos and programs, public education campaigns, and materials in six foreign languages (Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, French, Russian, and Arabic).

The facility handles nearly 200,000 information requests annually and is the “go-to resource,” particularly for state and local transportation departments, contractors and transportation/traffic safety engineers.

Launched by the U.S. Department of Transportation and managed today by the ARTBA-TDF, The Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP) and Tribal Technical Assistance Program (TTAP) are composed of a network

Local & Tribal Technical Assistance Program


AWARDS DEADLINESCONTRACTOR SAFETY | AUGUST 28 Promotes the concept that worker safety and health is a core value of the transportation design and construction industry.

WOMEN LEADERS IN TRANSPORTATION DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION | SEPTEMBER 1 Honors extraordinary efforts of individuals, companies and public agencies that have demonstrated leadership and dedication to innovation in the transportation construction field as well as the promotion of women leaders within the industry.

DR. J. DON BROCK TRANSOVATION | OCTOBER 16 Recognizes innovations that improve transportation.

2015 ARTBA FOUNDATION

of 58 Centers—one in every state, Puerto Rico and regional Centers serving tribal governments. The LTAP/TTAP Centers enable local counties, parishes, townships, cities and towns to improve their roads and bridges by supplying them with a variety of training programs, an information clearinghouse, new and existing technology updates, personalized technical assistance and newsletters.

Through these core services, Centers provide access to training and information that may not have otherwise been accessible. Centers are also able to provide local road departments with workforce development services; resources to enhance safety and security; solutions to environmental, congestion, capacity and other issues; technical publications; and training videos and materials.

Highway Worker Memorial Scholarship Program It was another first that would be replicated by others. The year 2015 also marks the 15th anniversary of the “Lanford Family Highway Worker Memorial Scholarship” fund.

The program provides post-high school financial assistance to the children of highway workers killed or permanently disabled on the job. About 100 workers are killed on the job every year in roadway construction and maintenance accidents, and thousands more are seriously injured.

It was established by two Roanoke, Virginia, highway contractors and their companies—Stan Lanford (1999 ARTBA chairman) of Lanford Brothers, and Jack Lanford (1991

ARTBA chairman), with Adams Construction Company. Today, it is supported by contributions from industry firms, state transportation departments and labor unions. Scholarships totaling more than $325,000 have been given to more than 120 students across America.

“Since I have received this scholarship, I have been able to continue my education and pursue the dream my father had for me—which was to be the first in my family to attend college,” said recent recipient Lyndsay Morgan, whose dad was killed in a 2011 accident in Florida.

Hall of Fame The TDF’s “Transportation Development Hall of Fame” was created in 2010 to honor individuals or families from the public and private sectors who have made extraordinary contributions to U.S. transportation development over their lifetime and demonstrated exceptional leadership.

Inductees are considered in two categories: Transportation Design & Construction Industry Innovators, honoring men and who have discovered or created a “game changing” product or process that significantly advanced transportation design, construction and/or safety; and Transportation Design & Construction Industry Leaders—whether an individual or family—which honors men, women and families who have made significant contributions beyond just having successful businesses or careers, that have notably helped advance the interests and image of the transportation design, construction and safety industry.


Fifteen have been inducted so far and the 2015 class will be announced during the ARTBA National Convention later this year. The Foundation is also putting the fin-ishing touches on an interactive Hall of Fame structure at the ARTBA headquarters building in Washington, D.C. to provide a permanent home for all of the inductees.

Dr. J. Don Brock TransOvation Workshop™ One of the Hall’s inductees is Dr. J. Don Brock, the pioneering founder of Astec Industries, who passed away this past March. An inventor who held about 100 U.S. and foreign patents, he created a company that “builds the equipment that moves America and the world from rock-to-road and beneath.”

TDF’s TransOvation™ workshop and awards program were renamed in his honor in 2012. Playing off the meanings of the words “transportation,” “innovation” and “ovation,” the program was created to foster innovative thinking within the transportation design and construction industry and publicly recognizing its proven innovators.

“One of the reasons the Foundation has been so successful is its embrace of innovation,” said Paul Yarossi, TDF vice chair, president and CEO of HNTB Holdings and 2011 ARTBA chairman, who launched the program. “The Don Brock TransOvation workshop is one of the most unique gatherings of young leaders in our industry and outside the industry that looks at innovation in the transportation construction industry. It looks at all aspects of innovation, what’s coming up new and what the future may bring.”

The Next 30 Years In 2015, as ARTBA marks five years of Hall of Fame inductees, 15 years of the Lanford Family Highway Worker Memorial Scholarship Program, 20 years of the Young Executive Development Program and the 30th anniversary of the Transportation Development Foundation, members of the organization can look ahead to the next 30 years. What is the future of TDF?

“It must continue to do what it has been doing, but do it better,” says ARTBA’s Ruane, adding that new safety programs and innovative use of technology “is going to take ARTBA to a place it hasn’t been before.”

But TDF must continue to invest with the resources of money and volunteer time, he said.

“Then the Foundation 30 years from now will be even more robust; it will have twice as many people trained, twice as many lives saved, twice as many people educated and it will be a legacy institution for the entire transportation construction industry,” Ruane concludes.

TMDr. J. Don Brock

Eileen Houlihan is ARTBA senior writer/editor: [email protected] Holan is ARTBA editorial director: [email protected] Jeanneret is ARTBA-TDF executive director: [email protected].

America on the Move

The ARTBA Foundation became

a major donor of the

Smithsonian Institution’s

“America on the Move” exhibit

back in 2002. Housed at the

National Museum of American

History, America on the Move

explores the role of transportation

in the nation’s history and

development. Visitors can: explore

how communities wrestled

with changes brought by

transportation networks like the

Interstate System; and see

cities change, suburbs expand,

and farms and factories become

part of regional, national and

international economies. In sum,

the exhibit is a journey about how

the past became the present.

http://amhistory.si.edu/onthemove/

TransportationBuilder 15


3M Innovation Center | St. Paul, Minnesota

For more information, contact ARTBA’s Allison Klein at 202.289.4434 or [email protected].

SAVE THE DATENOV. 16-18, 2015

TMDr. J. Don Brock

A Unique Workshop for Transportation Design & Construction Professionals


TMDr. J. Don Brock

To address this human and economic toll and prepare you for an expected Occupational Safety & Health Administration regulation under development, the ARTBA Foundation has created a first-of-its-kind “Safe Backing & Spotting” Certificate Training Program to help protect your people and your bottom line.

Key topics covered:

1. Blind spot recognition 2. Operator-to-worker communications 3. High visibility clothing 4. Hazard identification 5. Safe vehicle routing 6. Proper hand signals

SCHEDULE TRAINING Contact ARTBA’s Robinson Vasquez at 202.289.4434 or [email protected] to schedule training at your headquarters.

www.artba.org/safety/training-programs

NEW “Safe Backing & Spotting” Training Program Designed Exclusively for Transportation Contractors & their Employees• Oneroadwayconstructionworkerisstruckandkilledonthejobeachweek.15,000moreareinjuredannually.

• Roadwayaccidentsalsocosttransportationcontractorsandotheremployersalotofmoney:morethanaHALF BILLION DOLLARS.

Safe Backing and Spotting

Prepare for New OSHA Regulations

A GROUNDBREAKING CERTIFICATE TRAINING PROGRAM


Bridge Market Growing, Lack of Long-Term Transportation Bill Clouds Future by Dr. Alison Premo Black

A new ARTBA analysis of bridge construction data reveals at least two things: 1) federal transportation infrastructure

investment isn’t a “zero sum game;” and 2) the need to boost federal investment in highways and bridges is becoming ever-more apparent. Let me explain.

The good news is that the real value of bridge construction work continued to grow at a record pace during the first half of 2015, according to our examination of data from the U.S. Census Bureau, adjusted for material costs and inflation.

Contractors completed $13.9 billion in work between January and June 2015, compared to $12.6 billion during the same six-month period in 2014, an increase of 10 percent.

Increased state and local investment to fix deteriorating conditions will continue to drive the demand for bridge work, but the continued uncertainty over a long-term federal surface transportation bill could put the brakes on a market sector that has doubled in size over the last 15 years.

Needs & Conditions Although the number of bridges classi-fied as structurally deficient or function-ally obsolete has continued to decline in-crementally over the last 20 years, there are still nearly 146,000 bridges across the country that need to be repaired or replaced. Many of these structures carry tens-of-thousands of vehicles each and every day, as detailed last spring in ARTBA’s 2nd Annual Bridge Report.

To address these issues, state departments of transportation (DOTs) and local governments have made

COVER STORY

Real Value of Pavement & Bridge Construction Work - YTD Through June

2008

Bridges

Bill

ion

s o

f 20

15$

Pavements

$25

$20

$15

$10

$5

$0

$12$11 $11 $11.2

$12.9 $12.8 $12.6$13.9

$21

$23.7$21.9

$18.6 $19$17.2 $18.4

$18.9

20112009 2012 20142010 2013 2015

Source: U.S. Census Bureau Value of Construction Put in Place adjusted with ARTBA Price Index


View ARTBA’s bridge report online:

http://www.artba.org/economics/bridges/

significant investments in bridge projects. Bridge investment accounted for 20 percent of the value of all highway and bridge construction work in 2000, and that share increased to 36 percent of the market in 2014. Continued efforts to address these condition issues will drive more work.

State & Local Trends Fifteen state legislatures approved gas tax or related fee increases between 2013 and the first half of 2015, increasing state rev-enues for highway and bridge construc-tion investment. In addition, voters have approved 73 percent of the 655 state and local ballot initiatives in the last decade to increase transportation funding.

With additional resources available, some states will be able to invest more in bridge improvements. There are eight states where state and local government bridge contracts have represented over 40 percent of all highway and bridge contract awards in the last five years: Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.

Uncertainty Over Federal Program In July, Congress passed yet another short-term extension of the federal aid program, to Oct. 29. This will cause some state DOTs to further delay bridge projects.

Traditionally, the passage of a federal aid surface transportation program has preceded significant real growth in the national bridge market, and federal investment has accounted for an average of 52 percent of all state DOT capital outlays in the last decade. This is in part because many bridge projects are large, capital investments. The stability of a multi-year federal bill also allows states to plan ahead.

The delay of new projects entering the pipeline means the bridge market could plateau over the next two years, and even decline as work on current projects is

completed.

Demand for Highway Work Even with additional resources, there are significant demands across the country to increase highway and bridge investment to meet actual needs. In an environment with state and local budget challenges since the Great Recession of 2008 and a static federal aid surface transportation program, the strength of the bridge market over the last six years has come at the expense of real pavement and highway work, which was down 19 percent in 2014 compared to 2009. The trend underscores the need for policymakers to increase investment in all modes, as we shouldn’t be “robbing Peter to pay Paul.”

As increased travel, a strengthening U.S. economy and population growth put more pressure on our nation’s roads, state DOTs and local governments will be forced to address some of the repair, maintenance and reconstruction investment for highways and streets. Without additional resources, this will mean that governments may have to pull back on bridge work to meet the pent up demand for road investment.

Outlook The real value of bridge work should continue at a record pace through the rest of the 2015 construction season and

into early 2016. On the positive side, there are 26 states where the real value of bridge contract awards in the first half of 2015 is higher than last year, indicat-ing that work in those states should be expanding. Contract awards are also up in some of the larger state markets, including New York, California, Florida, Pennsylvania, Texas and New Jersey.

The real question looming over all others is the continued uncertainty over the federal aid program. Any significant, real increase in federal aid investment would spur continued growth in the bridge market.

If Congress passes a longer term bill with status quo funding, the predictability of investment levels would likely help maintain current levels of investment, depending on the ability of states to generate additional funding to meet the demand for highway construction and maintenance. And if Congress continues to delay action on a federal bill, then this could adversely impact the bridge construction market as states pull back on awarding projects amid funding uncertainty, and fewer projects are in the pipeline for the 2016 and 2017 construction season.

Dr. Alison Premo Black is ARTBA chief economist: [email protected].

Bridge and tunnel share of real highway & bridge construction market

200

0

40%

35%

30%

25%

20%

15%

10%

5%

0%

2001

200

2

200

3

2004

2005

2006

200

7

2008

200

9

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

Source: ARTBA analysis of U.S. Census Bureau Data, weighted with ARTBA Price Index

Source: U.S. Census Bureau Value of Construction Put in Place adjusted with ARTBA Price Index

20%

36%


The bridge was assembled on rollers behind the east abut-ment and rolled across the river using a cantilevered launch over the east river pier to the west river pier. The launch was carefully orchestrated to compensate for the upward arching of the steel, which was used to create the proper clearance from the top of the water and the sloped site profile. Once the main span was in place over the reconstructed piers, it was jacked up off the rollers and lowered onto the bearings. Once all three spans were on bearings, the roadway deck panels, the two pedestrian walkways and guiderail system were installed.

Traffic was reopened across the bridge ahead of schedule in September 2014. The quick work resulted in F.H. Paschen, S.N. Nielson & Associates being recognized as the “Outstanding Bridge Contractor of the Year” by CDOT.

The city is currently doing engineering work and identify-ing funding sources for a permanent replacement on Division Street. A CDOT spokesman said that project could take up to five years to complete. But now there’s some time to spare. Acrow says the 700XS panel bridge can be used as a perma-nent structure with an anticipated lifespan of 75 to 100 years.

THE WINDY CITY NEEDED A NEW BRIDGE IN A HURRY.

The Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) selected F.H. Paschen, S.N. Nielsen & Associates in June 2014 for an emergency $6 million replacement of the Division Street Bridge over the Chicago River North Branch Canal. The job came with a tight three-month deadline and involved demolition of the existing 111-year-old trunnion bascule bridge, removal of the bridge’s drivetrains and counterweights, and elimination of the existing abutments.

From an engineering perspective, the project posed a number of challenges: first, vertical clearance had to match the existing bridge; second, the sloped site profile required a unique meth-od of getting the structure in place; and third, the fabrication of specialty components. Additionally, CDOT required source inspection of the Acrow fabrication facility in Milton, Pennsyl-vania, and certification that all components were manufactured in the United States, plus other quality assurances. In 2006, Ac-row provided a temporary bridge for Chicago’s North Avenue.

The Acrow 700XS panel bridge was selected as the interim span for Division Street based on availability, quick delivery and speed of erection. Acrow’s engineering team worked with the CDOT’s bridge team and the contractor to develop a solu-tion based on readily available prefabricated bridge elements.

The bridge selected was comprised of three simple, independent spans of 60 feet, 140 feet, and 60 feet. The structure has a roadway width of 36 feet with two five-foot walkways cantilevered off of each side of the bridge. To minimize the dead load and to expedite construction, an orthotropic deck with an anti-skid aggregate epoxy coating applied to the roadway surface was used for driving safety and to eliminate the need for asphalt.

Acrow Delivers Temporary Bridge to Windy City

PROJECT: Division Street Bridge

LOCATION: Chicago, Ill.

OWNER:Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT)

View project video at www.transportationbuilder.org.

DEFICIENT BRIDGES

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Information for this article was provided by Acrow Brodge and edited by ARTBA’s Mark Holan: [email protected].


U.S. Route 9/Woodbridge Township, New Jersey

by Brian J. Atkinson

Dewberry Engineers Inc., last fall completed a $6 million federally funded project for the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) utilizing accelerated bridge construction techniques. The project, which included resurfacing and drainage improvements in a heavily congested mile-long section of U.S. Route 9 in Woodbridge Township, New Jersey (near Staten Island, New York) involved a bridge superstructure replacement.

There were several constraints and challenges associated with the project’s location. The crossing carries three lanes of Route 9 southbound traffic over the road’s northbound ramp (Green Street), with an estimated 31,000 vehicles using the bridge daily. The circa 1937 bridge was a single span concrete encased rolled steel beam superstructure. The abutments were constructed at different skew angles (45 degrees at the south abutment and 37 degrees at the north abutment), resulting in a varying span length between 47.5 feet and 56.5 feet. The bridge was in desperate need of a new concrete deck.

Originally, the Route 9 southbound bridge was slated to be replaced as part of a larger roadway improvement project. However, NJDOT performed a “value engineering” review of the project and recommended reducing the scope to include only deck replacement. During preliminary engineering, it became evident that conventional staged construction with a cast-in-place deck slab would result in major traffic disruptions for at least a year. Accelerated bridge construction techniques were explored to reduce the construction period.

Engineers decided on a complete superstructure replacement utilizing prefabricated bridge superstructure units with steel beams. They also recommended closing southbound Route 9

traffic while the existing superstructure was removed and the prefabricated units installed. But the contractor EIW Construction Group was only permitted to shut down the roadway for a weekend to complete the demolition and install the new superstructure. The construction also had to be planned around the year-end holiday shopping season due to the bridge being located near the busy Woodbridge Center shopping mall.

In order to successfully complete the construction within the given time constraints, construction methods and durations were taken into consideration. Very early strength latex modified concrete, with a cure time of about four hours, was used as a closure pour to span between the new superstructure units and the existing approach slabs that were left in place. Details were also developed to simplify construction and account for the variable geometry of the existing substructures that would support the new superstructure units.

Beginning at 9 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 17, 2014, the contractor shut down the southbound lanes and began demolition. By 6 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 20, the bridge was reopened to traffic in time for the morning commute. Parapet and sidewalk construction as well as the final surfacing were completed in a subsequent stage with limited traffic disruptions.

Because of the detailing and planning done before the road was closed, risks associated with this type of construction were minimized and the contractor was able to complete the work effectively, resulting in a new superstructure that will extend the life of this structure for NJDOT.

Brian J. Atkinson is Dewberry Engineers Inc. senior project engineer, structural engineering: [email protected].

PROJECT: U.S. Route 9

LOCATION: Woodbridge Township, N.J.

OWNER:New Jersey Department of Transportation (N.J. DOT)


DEFICIENT BRIDGES

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of D

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Eng

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in plain sight of the Congress for years,” but that even the partial closure may not be enough to spur action. “It is going to take public outrage, perhaps like what is expected from the domino effect of a partial shutdown of a major gateway bridge,” she said.

The Federal Highway Administration detailed the Arlington Memorial Bridge’s problems in an April 2013 inspection report. Two years later ARTBA identified the historic structure as one of more than 61,000 deficient bridges nationwide.

Cianbro’s McGeady said bridge work opportunities appear to be growing. “States are recognizing they have to do something despite what’s going on in D.C. They are planning and getting organized, but they still need the money.”

Work on the Arlington Memorial Bridge includes structural concrete, steel, and timber member repair or replacement, installation of additional elastomeric bearing pads, and expansion joint repair or replacement. McGeady said crews can’t be sure what other problems they might find until they begin working.

“After the repairs are complete in six to nine months, the lanes and sidewalks are expected to reopen, but the 10-ton weight restriction will remain in place because the repairs will not address the road surface issues,” said Campbell, the Park Service spokesman. “Once the support beam repairs are complete, the contractor will also do some debris removal within the bridge and paint the trunnion supports to help prevent further corrosion.”

In what has become one of the most symbolic transportation infrastructure patch-up projects in the nation, the federal government is making emergency repairs—once again—to the Arlington Memorial Bridge in Washington, D.C.

Two lanes of the 1930s-era span over the Potomac River were closed in May. New weight limits also were imposed on the bridge, forcing the rerouting of tourist buses traveling between Arlington National Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial. The National Park Service, which owns the bridge, stepped up its contractor selection process so repairs could get started before the end of the summer.

Maine-based Cianbro Corp., which patched up the bridge several years ago, was selected for the latest $2.5 million contract. Work is expected to begin in late August.

“It’s another short-term fix to get to a long-term fix,” said Eamonn McGeady, general manager of Cianbro’s Transportation Business Unit.

The National Park Service estimates that a complete rehabilitation of the 83-year-old bridge would cost upwards of $250 million. But “funding has yet to be identified,” agency spokesman Wayne Campbell said in late July.

Because of its location in the Nation’s Capital, the bridge’s continued deterioration and ongoing repairs have taken on symbolic significance as Congress continues to wrestle with a long-term transportation investment plan.

U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) said the bridge “is not just the symbol, but the reality, of failed leadership” as Congress addresses the nation’s infrastructure challenges. Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) said the bridge “has been crumbling

Washington Bridge Becomes Symbol of Transportation Funding Failure

PROJECT: Arlington Memorial Bridge

LOCATION: Arlington, Va./Washington, D.C.

OWNER:National Park Service


DEFICIENT BRIDGES

by Mark Holan

Mark Holan is ARTBA editorial director: [email protected]

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Cat_Com_Paving_Site_2012326154819.pdf 1 3/26/12 6:02 PM

facebook.com/CATPaving

youtube.com/CATPaving

QEXC1880© 2015 Caterpillar. All Rights Reserved. CAT, CATERPILLAR, BUILT FOR IT, their respective logos, “Caterpillar Yellow,” the “Power Edge” trade dress as well as corporate and product identity used herein, are trademarks of Caterpillar and may not be used without permission.

THE NEW STANDARD

Integrated Cat® Grade Control.

• Operatefromanyofthefouroperatorconsoles• Staysonthemachine• Userfriendlytouchscreen• On-the-gosensorselection

Learn more at www.cat.com/paving

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Cat_Com_Paving_Site_2012326154819.pdf 1 3/26/12 6:02 PM

facebook.com/CATPaving

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QEXC1880© 2015 Caterpillar. All Rights Reserved. CAT, CATERPILLAR, BUILT FOR IT, their respective logos, “Caterpillar Yellow,” the “Power Edge” trade dress as well as corporate and product identity used herein, are trademarks of Caterpillar and may not be used without permission.

THE NEW STANDARD

Integrated Cat® Grade Control.

• Operatefromanyofthefouroperatorconsoles• Staysonthemachine• Userfriendlytouchscreen• On-the-gosensorselection

Learn more at www.cat.com/paving

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QEXC1880_F-Series_New_Standard-Grade_Control_Ad.indd 1 4/30/15 9:32 AM


NEW PROJECTS

Rebuilding the Fox River Bridge in Elgin, Illinois, is one of the largest single awards in the $2.5

billion rebuilding and widening of the I-90 Jane Addams Memorial Tollway between the Tri-State Tollway (I-294) and Rockford. Originally opened in 1958, the six-lane bridge is being replaced with two side-by-side bridges, 1,315-feet long, standing 40 feet above the Fox River. The new structure will in-crease capacity to eight lanes with full shoulders in each direction. The bike and pedestrian bridge that runs under the structure are also being replaced.

The $95 million Illinois Tollway project, designed by Stanley Consultants, began in 2014 and is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2016. As of mid-July, the entire bridge substructure had been completed, except for abutments. Eastbound beam erection and deck widening is finished and westbound deck construction is in progress. Homer Chastain is providing construction management services.

REBUILDING THE FOX RIVER BRIDGE by Rob Koss

Photos courtesy of Stanley Consultants.


REBUILDING THE FOX RIVER BRIDGE by Rob Koss

More than 100,000 vehicles travel across the Fox River Bridge each day. That equates to nearly 110 million vehicles traversing the bridge during the three-year construction period. Maintaining traffic flow while simultaneously demolishing the existing structure and building a new one is traditionally accomplished by developing a multi-staged plan that jockeys traffic back and forth across the bridge section with split counter-flow lanes and numerous sub-stages.

However, by selecting girders that significantly increase the structural depth of the bridge, it became possible to construct the entire substructure of the new bridge underneath the existing bridge. This significantly lessens the impact to traffic by allowing the contractor, a joint venture between Kenny Construction Co. and Kraemer North America, to continuously construct the new substructure under the existing bridge without interruption—even through the winter. This made it possible to reduce the maintenance of traffic scheme to just three stages.

A gantry system, used instead of conventional cranes to perform the heavy lifting, also improves traffic flow by allowing all six lanes to remain open during construction. The gantry uses a hoist traveling along an overhead rail to lift and set the heavy beams, each weighing nearly 100 tons. All pier elements, including pier caps, are being constructed under the bridge while maintaining all traffic lanes above, which allows the contractor to work unobstructed.

The gantry system includes three main frames positioned 150-170 feet apart. Each main frame has a column on each end supporting overhead beams with cross bracing between them to carry two hoists and a trolley system to lift and transport the concrete beams from the delivery truck to bridge piers. Two gantries are used to set each beam, with one gantry on each end. Once the beams are set at each pier the gantry frame is disassembled and moved to the next open pier, moving first eastbound and then repeating the process on the westbound lanes.

The process will ultimately engulf and replace the original structure while maintaining three lanes of traffic in each direction nearly 100 percent of the time, a convenience that would not have been possible using cranes. These innovative engineering and construction techniques are expected to shorten the construction period and are also anticipated to save $2.2 million in maintenance costs over the life of the new bridge.

The new Fox River Bridge will have eight spans and seven piers—versus the original structure’s 14 piers—which reduce the environmental impact on the waterway and rare forested fen below. Existing storm sewers that previously drained into the fen have been eliminated and a new drainage system will capture all bridge stormwater runoff and treat the flow prior to discharge into the river. These flows are being rerouted, to preserve the quality and quantity of groundwater within the adjacent forested fen communities.

View project videos at www.transportationbuilder.org.

Rob Koss, P.E., operations manager, Stanley Consultants Chicago Office, project manager for the design of the Fox River Bridge: [email protected] or 773.714.2003.

“This state-of-the-art bridge is being built with the most advanced techniques to shorten construction time and reduce any inconvenience to Tollway customers by maintaining three lanes of traffic in each direction at all times except for off-peak overnight hours when traffic flow will allow,” said Illinois Toll-way Chief Engineer Paul Kovacs. “When it is completed, the new bridge will safely accommodate more vehicles while also protecting the Fox River and nearby wetlands from stormwater runoff.”


NEW PROJECTS

Unlike bridge construction, most of the new Mid-town Tunnel project can’t be seen taking shape

under the Elizabeth River in the Hampton Roads region of Southeast Virginia. The nearly one-mile-long, two-lane immersed-tube tunnel will run adja-cent to the existing Midtown Tunnel, which con-nects Norfolk and Portsmouth via U.S. 58. Whether visible or not, however, plenty of innovative and cost-saving work is being done as the tunnel devel-ops toward an anticipated late 2016 completion.

But the new tunnel is only one component of the massive $2.1 billion Elizabeth River Tunnels (ERT) Project. Other work includes maintenance and safety improvements to the existing Midtown and nearby Downtown tunnels; extending the MLK Freeway from London Boulevard to Interstate 264, and interchange modifications at Brambleton Avenue and Hampton Boulevard. The entire project is scheduled for substantial completion in 2018.

The ERT Project is being delivered through a public-private partnership (P3) agreement between Elizabeth River Crossings OpCo LLC (ERC) and the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) in Hampton Roads. ERC has tapped SKW Constructors, a joint venture formed by Skanska

(part owner of ERC), Kiewit and Weeks Marine, as the design-build contractor for the project. HNTB is providing construction quality control services as part of the contract.

ERC says the project is creating more than 500 direct jobs and indirect employment for more than 1,000 others through local suppliers and vendors, with upwards of $250 million in regional economic development benefits. The new Midtown Tunnel will add much-needed capacity and improve safety by carrying westbound traffic from Norfolk to Portsmouth, thus eliminating two-way traffic in the existing 50-year-old Midtown Tunnel, now said to be the most heavily traveled two-lane road east of the Mississippi River, carrying nearly one million vehicles monthly.

The all-concrete immersed-tube tunnel contains 11 elements fabricated in Sparrows Point, Maryland, near Baltimore, more than 200 miles away from the construction site. Each element—averaging 350 feet long, 54 feet wide, 29 feet tall, and weighing 16,000 tons—was floated down the Chesapeake Bay to the tunnel location, lowered into place and attached to its adjoining element with watertight seals. The last element was placed underwater in mid-July, nine

LIKE A BRIDGE UNDER TRAFFICKED WATERS

Photos courtesy of “The Elizabeth River Tunnels Project.”


months after the first was installed on the Portsmouth side in October 2014.

Checking quality and safety Since the project began in January 2012, HNTB has performed construction quality control, acceptance testing and inspection services for SKW. HNTB also wrote the design management and construction quality management plans that established the procedures, documents and organization for VDOT’s I-495 Express Lanes, the commonwealth’s first P3 project exceeding $1 billion.

“The new Midtown Tunnel is an uncommon kind of structure in the United States,” said Anil Sharma, HNTB project manager. “But HNTB already was experienced with Virginia Department of Transportation P3 design guidelines, and had complete awareness of VDOT construction procedures, so we could hit the ground running.”

HNTB mobilized qualified staff from around the country, co-locating 37 professionals with SKW at the four key project locations—the tunnel element fabrication site in Maryland, the new tunnel, the two existing tunnels, and the MLK Freeway area at Hampton Roads. SKW and HNTB teams worked hand-in-hand to address any potential issues before complications arise.

The underwater tunnel uses dense, high-performance concrete made to last for 120 years. More than 100 trial batches were required to develop the final concrete mix used to create the tunnel elements. Certified labs were located at the Sparrows Point casting yard, and at Portsmouth near the project site. Each facility was staffed with full-time lab technicians and supported by an off-site lab capable of performing additional specialized tests.

“This is a huge project spread over several miles,” said Bob Stallings, SKW project quality project manager. “There is no room for mistakes. People sometimes see quality as a cost, but I see it as a savings. It reduces rework, which is a big cost.”

Safety also is a big focus on such a massive, multi-location project, with SKW doing continuous training of numerous subcontractors and their employees. At times it has meant that work was halted if there was doubt about safety. Work does not start up again until improvements are made or production methods changed to guarantee safety. A few suppliers that failed meet the strict health and safety requirements have been dismissed from the project.

Covering the costs The project is partially financed by toll fees introduced at the beginning of 2014 and being collected by ERC through a fully automated system. Current rates range from $1 to $7 per passage, depending on vehicle classification and whether drivers are traveling off peak or during rush hours; and whether they are using E-Z Pass or pre-payment options. Additional funding is coming from private equity, VDOT and a $463 million low-interest Federal Highway Administration loan.

The P3 concession agreement will be in place for 58 years, with ERC responsible for all operation and maintenance of some 50 miles of tunnels and approach roads. Toll revenue is contractually obligated to first fund protected operations and maintenance accounts and to repay debt. The last disbursement is to the toll operator as profit

“We bear all of the market risk related to traffic volumes. More cars translates to more revenue and the potential for higher returns,” said Doran Bosso, asset manager at ERC.

View project videos at www.transportationbuilder.org.

This story was developed from material in HNTB Designer and from the Skanska and ERT Project websites and edited by ARTBA’s Mark Holan: [email protected].


NEW PROJECTS

After more than three decades of political infight-ing and planning missteps over how to replace

the ailing Tappan Zee Bridge, a new crossing is now rapidly rising across the Hudson River. A decisive governor, a supportive federal government, the talents of the New York State Thruway Authority and the efforts of the design-build team Tappan Zee Constructors, LLC (TZC) that I lead are why suc-cess is happening where failure prevailed previously. Priced at $3.9 billion, the project currently is the largest bridge and highway project in the nation.

The reasons the old bridge must be replaced are legion. Constructed in the early 1950s, the bridge originally was intended to serve only as a temporary crossing. Ongoing deterioration compelled the Thruway Authority to pour increasing resources into keeping it safe, but major structural deficiencies no longer can be band-aided.

What’s more, the old bridge is functionally obsolete. Half a century ago, approximately 40,000 vehicles crossed the bridge every day; today, about 135,000 cross daily. Additionally, the absence of safety shoulders, narrower-than-standard lanes and other factors contribute to far more accidents than occur on other New York State highways. In the westbound direction, the accident rate is about three times higher than the statewide average, whereas in the eastbound direction, the crash rate is

more than five times greater than average.

The first span of the twin-span bridge is scheduled to open in 2016 and the full project is on track for a 2018 completion. In contrast to its predecessor, the new bridge will last at least a century without major structural maintenance. Additional capacity, the addition of breakdown lanes, a state-of-the-art traffic monitoring systems and a dedicated commuter bus lane will mean less congestion and safer movement for all travelers. Designed and constructed to be mass-transit-ready, the new crossing will be able to accommodate bus rapid transit, light rail or commuter rail in the future. The bridge also will be “ped-and-pedal friendly” with a bike/pedestrian path.

Now midway through our second year of construction, the project is achieving rapid progress. While the first year and a half of construction focused on vertical foundation elements underneath the Hudson River, construction has risen above the waterline and is increasingly going horizontal. June saw the start of our placement of enormous steel girders for the western approach span, the most obvious evidence of progress. Operators of the project’s Left Coast Lifter super crane are installing the enormous assemblies, connecting concrete piers and literally enabling the bridge to take shape.

The enormous capacity of the I Lift NY super crane is enabling swift progress on the New NY Bridge project.

Photos courtesy of Tappan Zee Constructors, LLC

TAPPAN ZEE BRIDGE REPLACEMENT RAPIDLY TAKING SHAPE by Darrell Waters


Eight 418-foot towers will lend the new Tappan Zee Bridge an iconic look.

To illustrate the enormity of the girders, the first one to be installed is longer than the distance from home plate to the centerfield wall at Yankee Stadium. Put another way, if an NFL running back rushed the distance of that girder over a full season, he would hold the single-season record for rushing. In total, more than 31 miles and 100,000 tons of American-forged structural steel will be installed to support the new bridge’s road deck.

Another major milestone was recorded in early July with the completion of the first and by far most significant phase of pile driving. One of the first construction activities, pile driving has been ongo-ing since mid-2013 as bridge builders installed more than 1,000 piles to support the foundations of the new crossing. As indicated in the above photo, the landings of the old Tappan Zee Bridge are where the second span of the bridge will touch down on land. After transferring traffic onto the first new crossing, the existing bridge will be torn down and additional pile driving will be necessary to build piers close to land as well as the abutment of second new bridge.

Also approaching completion is the installation of precast pile caps, which are placed atop sets of piles to unify their weight-bearing strength. The final precast pile cap is scheduled to be installed in the fall of 2015, completing foundation operations for the current project phase. With the completion of

Darrell Waters is the president and project executive for Tappan Zee Constructors, LLC, a design-build consortium of Fluor, American Bridge, Traylor and Granite.

by Darrell Waters

more and more piles and pile caps, the new bridge’s piers, which rest upon them, are springing above the water. To date, more than a dozen have been completed.

Much of the accelerated progress has been made possible by the recent addition of a third floating batch plant, which more than doubled the project’s concrete production capacity. The vast majority of the new bridge’s 300,000 cubic yards of concrete will flow through these mobile plants, which are able to create different mixes and quantities of concrete on demand. This summer, bridge builders are using the plants to fill the football-field-sized main span pile caps that will support the new bridge’s eight, 419-foot towers, which themselves are getting underway this summer. The soaring towers are key to the iconic look of the bridge, supporting the graceful arching appearance of the cables that will bear the weight of the main span decks.

New York State’s Hudson Valley is witnessing engineering history in the making. On behalf of the hundreds of men and women working on the proj-ect, we are proud to be building a new crossing that will improve the lives of many generations to come.


PENNSYLANIA POSTCARDS

The Keystone State Begins Ambitious Bridge Program, Despite Taking a Pause for the Popeby Eileen Houlihan

Engineering firm Pennoni Associates, Inc., needed something of a miracle.

With upwards of two million people expected in Philadelphia for the late September visit of Pope Francis, the locally-based firm was told to revise nearly completed design plans for several bridges being replaced on one of the most traveled roadways in the city.

Hundreds of thousands motorists travel daily on Interstate 676, known as the Vine Street Expressway, the main east/west connection through Philadelphia. That includes overpass bridges between 22nd and 18th Street.

The city requested a manageable construction plan and timeline to accommodate the Pontiff ’s visit. Without delaying the final design schedule, the company presented a multistage traffic control and construction plan that includes suspending work throughout September. All equipment and materials are to be removed from the work zones until construction resumes Oct. 1.

“In order to accommodate the logistics of the Pope’s visit in conjunction with the complex project schedule, it’s really become the “Di-Vine” Street Expressway Bridge Replacement project,” said John Zarsky, Pennoni’s regional vice president and transportation technology principal.

The five-year, $65 million project to replace seven bridges is expected to be completed in late 2019.

For the second consecutive year, Pennsylvania topped the list of states

with the most structurally deficient bridges, according to ARTBA’s analysis of the Federal Highway Administration’s National Bridge Inventory.

The commonwealth has the third largest number of bridges in the nation, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT). There are 25,000 state-owned bridges with an average age of over 50 years, PennDOT says. ARTBA’s analysis showed more than 20 percent are structurally deficient, well above a national average near seven percent.

In an effort to jumpstart work on such a massive repair endeavor, PennDOT

launched the Rapid Bridge Replacement (RBR) project. The Public-Private Partnership (P3) aims to replace 558 of those structurally deficient bridges around the state within 36 months. The total cost is expected to exceed $1 billion.

The stakes couldn’t be higher: “Unless replaced, these bridges will ultimately have to be closed, jeopardizing public safety and harming the state’s ability to grow economically and create jobs,” PennDOT said in a June update.

21st Street Bridge overpass. Photo courtesy of Pennoni.


The agency said it screened more than 2,000 bridges prior to issuance of the final Requests for Proposals for the RBR project. It considered a host of factors, including age, length, number of lanes, average daily traffic, as well as impact on utilities, railroads and a range of poten-tial environmental impacts. All of the bridges are relatively small, many only single-span, two-lane structures, with most bridge components of standardized design that can be prefabricated offsite, an important factor to help address replacement and repair quickly.

Plenary Walsh Keystone Partners received an $899 million contract for the project. The group, along with its team of Pennsylvania-based subcontractors, will design, construct, finance and maintain the bridges for 25 years after construction is complete under the terms of the P3 contract.

The PWKP team is comprised of ARTBA members the Plenary Group, Granite Construction Company and HDR Engineering. Many of the 11 Pennsylvania-based subcontractors are ARTBA members as well, including Swank Construction Company and Larson Design Group.

“The success of this project has the potential to really change how P3 delivery is viewed in the U.S., that it is

ARTBA member firm Amman & Whitney, which is part of the Vine

Street Expressway team and other major projects in Philadelphia, also recently completed the repair of an historic bridge in Tamaqua, in Schuylkill County, a milling and coal mining area in Pennsylvania’s anthracite region.

The SR 209 East Broad Street Bridge dates to the early 1890s, the start of Tamaqua’s booming coal period which led to a larger population and an increased need for a more robust infrastructure to carry goods and people. The bridge over the Little Schuylkill River is considered an important resource to the area and the rehabilitation project was an excellent example of committing to preservation/rehabilitation and utilizing creative and

not just for new capacity and toll roads, but can be a very powerful tool in addressing the backlog of critical infrastructure projects necessary to achieve a state of good repair across the transportation system,” said Bryan Kendro, former director of PennDOT’s Office of Policy & Public-Private Partnerships.

Kendro was honored in July as one of ARTBA’s “P3 Entrepreneurs of the Year.”

innovative design methods to address the inherent challenges of such efforts, said Robin Malacrea, the firm’s senior vice president of marketing and communications.

The $2.5 million project required rehabilitation of the three-span stone masonry arch bridge and sidewalks, which were added in 1933. All rehabilitation work was completed in accordance with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Treatment of Historic Properties. The project successfully modeled the union of historic preservation and modern materials to create a showpiece structure that will last into the next century, the company said.

SR 209 East Broad Street Bridge. Photo courtesy of Ammann & Whitney. I-676 Pedestrian Bridge Demo. Photo courtesy of Ammann & Whitney.

Eileen Houlihan is ARTBA senior writer/editor: [email protected].


More than 61,000 U.S. bridges—nearly one of every nine—is structurally deficient and in

need of significant repair, according to the Federal Highway Administration National Bridge Inventory. But while the numbers are staggering, some 2,000 bridges on earlier lists have been repaired or replaced over the last year or so.

Bridge repair and maintenance is big business, as well as a key component in keeping drivers safe. Many companies involved in transportation infrastructure are working to incorporate the latest innovations and techniques into the manufacture and distribution of materials for the maintenance, rehabilitation and preservation of bridges.

For example, New Rochelle, New York-based Transpo Industries, Inc. focuses on saving concrete and steel of bridge decks. The company says its T-18 Methyl Methacrylate Thin Slurry, a thin, polymer concrete overlay, helps to prevent deck cracks, protects and waterproofs grout areas and provides an anti-skid surface. It was used on the Welcome Center Bridge in Ocean City, New Jersey, which opened in 2013.

Transpo says the overlay will preserve the bridge deck and assure its safe function to the full extent of its design life of 15-25 years, while the impervious overlay will also help extend the service life of the bridge deck. “Polymer concrete overlays can enable bridge decks to maintain a like new condition that can make it possible to obtain a 75-100 year service life,” said company President and Chief Operating Officer Michael Stenko.

Dave Meggers, a research development engineer at the Kansas Department of Transportation, said the state has been using multi-coat polymer over-lays for bridge preservation for 15 years, helping to extend the life of the structures without the need to mill off the existing wearing surface. He said that over 200 bridges in Kansas have polymer concrete overlays.

Placing an orthotropic deck on an existing bridge is another preservation technique, used recently by global consulting firm Parsons Brinckerhoff on the Congress Parkway Bascule Bridge in Chicago. The existing bascule deck with an open steel grid design leaves the bridge components vulnerable to the

Welcome Center Bridge.

Photo courtesy of Transpo Industries.

Making Headway on Bridge Repair and Maintenance by Eileen Houlihan

BRIDGE MAINTENANCE


effects of mechanical wear and weather.

Parsons Brinckerhoff said various deck options were analyzed, based on their ability to protect the structural elements below as well as for the weight of the movable spans, including necessary rebalancing of the bridge and increased stresses on the existing machinery elements. Many of the options considered partially addressed the wear and weather issues, but lacked attributes that would provide complete pro-tection from the elements while enhancing ride, traction, and lane delineation/visibility for motorists, the company said.

To address those issues and provide the most cost-effective long-term solution within the constraints of budget and schedule, an orthotropic bridge deck was selected. It consists of a steel plate deck topped by a polyurethane wearing surface. As an added benefit, the company said, orthotropic deck panels assembled in the shop can help expedite deck replacement and minimize construction time and traffic disruption.

Parsons Brinckerhoff said it was the first time an orthotropic deck has been placed on a movable bridge in Illinois, and one of the first such efforts in the U.S.

Another company working on the repair and upkeep of the nation’s bridges is Forth Worth, Texas-based AZZ Galvanizing. It uses a hot-dip galvanizing process to apply molten zinc to fabricated steel, rendering corrosion protection for up to 50 years, the company said.

AZZ said it recently tested a structural steel highway bridge in Castleton, Indiana after 44 years of service. A 188-foot-long steel beam bridge section that was hot-dip galvanized steel remains in very good condition and does not require any additional coating, reducing long-term maintenance costs, the company said.

Bridge inspector Jim Mickler of the Indiana Department of Transportation said galvanizing was a very effective method for corrosion protection in areas like Castleton. The added corrosion protection reduces the impact of road de-icing salts, which build up due to frequent use in the winter months.

In Nebraska, the Department of Roads is helping to find a way to more easily identify which parts of a bridge need fixing. The agency recently issued a grant to the University of Nebraska Lincoln (UNL) to build a 3-D computer model of an area bridge. The model allows engineers, with the click of a mouse, to identify which parts need fixing.

The data management tool is based on Building Information Modeling, software used to draft three-dimensional, detailed architectural plans for buildings and their various structural systems, according to Zhigang Shen, the UNL associate professor that developed it.

State bridge engineers have been quoted as saying road officials across the country could find the system useful, particularly those with multiple large or complicated bridges to manage.

The implementation of bridge preservation strategies that prevent, delay, or reduce deterioration is vital for the future of our nation’s aging infrastructure. ARTBA member companies remain fully active in this important work.


Eileen Houlihan is ARTBA senior writer/editor: [email protected].

Castleton, Indiana bridge. Photo courtesy of AZZ Galvanizing Services. Congress Parkway Bridge. Photo courtesy of Parsons Brinckerhoff.


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More than 3 million miles of roads and over 300,000 bridges in the United States are owned and maintained by local governments.

In 1982, the Federal Highway Administration established the Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP). In 1991, the Tribal Technical Assistance Program (TTAP) was also created. LTAP and TTAP help local governments improve management of their transportation networks.

There are 58 LTAP/TTAP Centers: one in each state, one in Puerto Rico, and seven regional Centers that serve tribal governments. Most Centers are housed at colleg-es, universities and state departments of transportation.

The mission of LTAP/TTAP is to foster a safe, efficient, and environmentally sound surface transportation system by improving skills and increasing knowledge of the transportation workforce and decision makers. LTAP/TTAP strives to improve safety for users on local roads, help local governments build and maintain their

The FHWA LTAP/TTAP Clearinghouse, managed by the American Road & Transportation Builders Association- Transportation Development Foundation (ARTBA-TDF), provides program support for LTAP and TTAP Centers.

infrastructure, utilize the workforce efficiently, and teach road workers how to do their jobs safely.

The national program focus areas are safety, workforce development, infrastructure management and organiza-tional excellence. LTAP/TTAP Centers help communities improve the quality and condition of their transportation network.

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strated a closed mind to comments.”

In the past 22 years, ARTBA’s legal advocacy program has helped ensure that more than $50 billion in approved—yet challenged—state, regional and local transportation projects and plans to move forward.

The litigation is expected to take up to three years (if a decision is appealed to the federal appellate courts and the Supreme Court) and cost between $30,000 and $35,000 per year. Mayer Brown LLP, a well-known law firm, is representing ARTBA and the other plaintiffs. This expense is not in ARTBA’s current-year budget, but ARTBA imme-diately agreed to join the lawsuit because of the critical importance of this issue.

ARTBA fully expects many of the environmental groups to litigate in favor of the new rule and bring their many financial resources to the table in doing so. ARTBA members interested in contributing towards the costs of this litigation or wishing to obtain more information about the lawsuit can contact me at (202) 289-34434, or [email protected]. Any contribution will be a tremendous help in making sure the WOTUS rule never takes effect!

ARTBA Takes EPA to Court Over “Waters of the United States” Rule by Nick Goldstein

Nick Goldstein is ARTBA vice president of environmental & regulatory affairs: [email protected].

As part of our commitment to protect the transportation construction

market, ARTBA recently sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in federal court.

At issue is a new Clean Water Act (CWA) rule issued by the EPA and the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) defining “waters of the United States” (WOTUS). ARTBA contends the rule is too broad and represents a misguided abuse of federal power.

ARTBA’s lawsuit, which is joined by more than a dozen other trade associations including the American Petroleum Institute, the American Farm Bureau Federation and the National Mining Association, was filed in federal district court on July 10.

This is not the first time ARTBA has taken the EPA to court over the agency’s attempts to expand federal jurisdiction. ARTBA battled the EPA at the United States Supreme Court in 2001 (Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County, about whether an isolated gravel pit could be considered ‘navigable’) and in 2006 (the Rapanos case, over wetlands regulation)—and won both times. Going back further, ARTBA also litigated over the government’s attempt to define the scope of the CWA in the “Tulloch Rule,” notching another win and even forcing the EPA to cover the cost of appealing the case.

For transportation construction, the new WOTUS rule expands federal jurisdiction to the point where virtually any roadside ditch with standing water could be subject to regulation. ARTBA has consistently maintained that federal environmental regulation should be applied when a clear need is demonstrated. Regulating all roadside ditches under the theory of interconnectedness, which suggests all ditches eventually flow into natural

waterways, fails to meet this threshold.

Also, the WOTUS rule will add more layers of review—for unproven benefits—lengthening the transportation project review and approval process. Requiring wetland permits for ditch construction and maintenance will force project sponsors and the private sector to incur new administrative and legal costs. Every accumulation of precipitation on or near a transportation project could be targeted for a lawsuit by environmental-ists. The potential delays and increased costs that would result from EPA’s rule will divert resources from timely ditch maintenance activities and potentially threaten the role ditches play in promoting roadway safety.

When the rule was released on May 27, ARTBA President Pete Ruane noted, “the EPA’s regulatory overreach aims to submarine congressional efforts enacted in 2012’s MAP-21 law that were aimed at speeding up the delivery of transportation projects.”

The initial complaint outlined in the suit calls the rule “an opaque and un-wieldy regulation that leaves the identi-fication of jurisdictional waters so vague and uncertain that Plaintiffs and their members cannot determine whether and when the most basic activities undertaken on their land will subject them to drastic criminal and civil penalties under the CWA.”

The coalition also took strong issue with how EPA drafted the rule, noting that in addition to distorting Supreme Court precedent, the agency “subverted the notice-and-comment process by (among other things) failing to seek comment on scientific reports relied on in the rule and on major revisions of the proposed rule, conducting an inadequate economic analysis, and engaging in an unprecedented advocacy campaign during the comment period that demon-


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ARTBA’s Bridge Policy and Promotion Council Leads by Action by Allison Klein

Allison Klein is ARTBA BPPC executive director and vice president of member services: [email protected].

The Bridge Policy and Promotion Council (BPPC) was formed in 2008

by a group of industry leaders who want-ed to grow and improve the U.S. bridge market and bring together industry leaders to address major policy issues. From project delivery issues to funding, the BPPC set out to address a variety of important topics.

Now six years later, the council has made its mark and helped educate members in the process. With almost 100 members, the council includes leading contractors, design firms and suppliers from around the country.

Questions about how U.S. bridges can be built faster and what would allow for more innovation came up frequently in early BPPC meetings. From that discussion, the members decided that the industry needed a “best practices” paper addressing the Design-Build delivery method—one that that would reflect the industry point of view on the matter. Led by the BPPC’s Project Delivery action team, ARTBA produced a 25-page paper that breaks down the issues surrounding this delivery method and suggests best practices for owners. The paper included input from ARTBA’s Planning & Design and Contractors Divisions and reflected the views of members from around the country.

While the paper doesn’t endorse Design-Build, it suggests the best way to move forward if that project method is chosen. Many of our members have utilized this resource by referencing the paper in various discussions and sharing it with owners.

BPPC members also have made an impact on policy by organizing task groups that address issues impacting the bridge industry. Most recently, council members participated in ARTBA’s Trans2020 Bridge and Tunnel work group and helped put together comments for U.S. DOT addressing MAP-21’s updates to the National Bridge Inspection Standards and National Tunnel Inspection Standards.

The BPPC also aims to educate members on the latest technologies, delivery methods and market developments in the bridge sector. Recent presentations have included updates from Joseph Hartmann, director of the Federal Highway Administration’s Office of Bridges and Structures; and Mike Keever, structure design chief with the California Department of Transpor-tation. The council also hosts frequent webinars on such topics as accelerated bridge construction, slide-in bridge con-struction and Geosynthetic Reinforced Soil-Integrated Bridge System.

ARTBA staff also frequently addresses the council on matters related to the market and government affairs. ARTBA’s Senior Vice President and Chief Economist, Dr. Alison Premo Black, provides timely information on the bridge market. Dr. Black supplies council members with vital information that can impact their business and also helps the council show the public and media how much work we need to do in order to fix the nation’s bridge inventory.

“The Bridge Policy and Promotion Council brings together national leaders from the U.S. bridge industry,” said Ted Zoli, BPPC chairman and senior vice president at HNTB. “The council provides a fantastic opportunity for members to discuss and comment on the latest policy initiatives, get impor-tant market information, and to stay up to speed on major issues impacting the bridge industry across the country. If you are a leader in the bridge sector, you need to be involved with this group.”

To learn more about the BPPC, or to get involved, please contact me at [email protected].


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material depth, width and direction, toward development of industry standards. The committee also oversees development and updating of a variety of operator safety manuals and related materials promoting best practices for worksite safety (available at www.safetymaterials.org).

The CPMTC is one of nearly 40 AEM technical groups formed to ensure early recognition of emerging issues and to seek their satisfactory resolution while providing an industry forum for exchange of technical information.

These groups examine, discuss and make recommendations to government and private agencies on performance standards, review regulatory demands, act as a clearinghouse for members on product-oriented standards and regulations, develop safety materials, and provide input to government agencies that oversee certain types of equipment and its uses.

Download the best practices bulletin from the AEM Store (www.safetymateri-als.org): “Operational Guidance for Water Systems during Milling Operations” and download the NIOSH best practices document from the NIOSH website (http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/): “Best Practice Engineering Control Guidelines to Control Worker Exposure to Respirable Crystalline Silica during Asphalt Pavement Milling.”

AEM corner

Best Practices to Reduce Silica Exposure Unveiled

More than a decade of cooperative research has resulted in a best practices document designed to help reduce respirable silica exposure during pave-ment milling in highway construction.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) developed the document through the Silica/Milling Machine Partnership. NIOSH officials unveiled the document during the World of Asphalt Show & Conference held earlier this year in Baltimore, Maryland.

The Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) and member manufacturers played an integral role in the formation and work of the Silica/Milling Machine Partnership.

“This collaborative effort by labor, industry and government reflects the current knowledge of best practices and a partnership that has succeeded in developing recommended engineering controls for these worksites,” said NIOSH Director John Howard, M.D.

Key Recommendations Outlined The NIOSH best practices document focuses on cold-milling of pavement. NIOSH and the Silica/Milling Machine Partnership recommendations include:

• Placement of ventilation controls on all new milling machines;

• Maximizing cover around the cutter drum and conveyor belts of milling machines;

• Designing an outlet that releases dust at high speed away from the worker, if the ventilation control on the machine does not already include a dust collector; and

• Water sprays that are used to prevent or suppress dust on milling machines if ventilation dust controls are not available.

The document also provides machin-ery manufacturers guidance for evaluat-ing current and future dust controls.

In April 2002, NIOSH met with AEM’s Compaction and Paving Machinery Technical Committee to propose the Silica/Milling Machine Partnership. The partnership was formed in 2003 and studies on milling machine dust controls began later that year.

Over the years, this testing has taken equipment fitted with prototype approaches to reducing silica dust exposure—and instrumentation to measure that exposure—to a number of actual work sites for testing. The data collected by NIOSH is the source information for the new best practices document.

Another outcome of the partnership was the development of a milling operations water systems best practices bulletin.

Manufacturer Forum Tackles Industry Issues Through AEM’s Compaction & Paving Machinery Technical Committee (CPMTC), manufacturers work cooperatively on issues affecting rollers, compactors, cold planers, soil stabilizers and asphalt pavers (and the major components of these products).

In addition to its work related to the silica partnership, the committee is monitoring and contributing to OSHA’s proposed respirable crystalline silica rule update.

Another project involves defining physical and 3-D coordinate references for automated systems controlling paving

AEM provides trade and business development services for companies that manufacture equip-ment, products and services used world-wide in the agricultural, construction, forestry, mining and utility sectors. AEM is headquartered in Mil-waukee, Wisconsin, with offices in the capitals of Washington, D.C., Ottawa, and Beijing.


ADVERTISER INDEX

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“ARTBA reserves the right, at its discretion and without liability of any nature whatsoever, to reject, cancel or suspend any advertising in whole or in part, in which case any fees paid in advance shall be refunded to the advertiser on a pro-rata basis.”

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