FHWA > R&T > HfL > Technology Partnerships |
Technology PartnershipsThe Federal Highway Administration announced a grant award on April 3, 2009, under the Highways for LIFE Technology Partnerships program. The innovation, Fully Precast Bridge Bents for Use in Seismic Regions, supports Accelerated Bridge Construction techniques across the country and consists of a totally precast concrete bridge bent system, including precast columns and beams. The use of prefabrication increases safety by reducing time spent on site and reduces congestion by not always requiring full lane closures. To construct precast elements in high seismic zones requires ductile detailing which permits the structure to deform rather than have a sudden unexpected brittle failure. This has not been practiced to date. The connections are made with a small number of large-diameter reinforcing bars that are grouted into much larger-diameter ducts. This will be the first project in the US where it will become a standard practice to use precast, segmental construction for bridge bents in high seismic regions. The project will develop guidelines and specifications from which Engineers will design and construct a bridge in Washington State. If successful, the specifications will be included in Washington State's Bridge Design Manual and be presented to the American Association of State Highway Transportation Organization Technical Committee to be adopted as a Guide Specification for Seismic Design of precast construction. The recipient is Berger/Abam Engineers. The Award amount is $400,397. In January 2008, five grants were awarded to accelerate the adoption of innovations that have the potential to reduce congestion and improve highway quality and safety. The grants will encourage the use of innovative equipment, materials, practices or processes in the design, construction or financing of highways. The awards will help the five companies refine and test technologies currently at the prototype stage in a real-world highway setting in partnership with state departments of transportation and local transportation agencies.
FHWA is expected to announce the awards from the August 2008 solicitation in February 2009. NotificationsPDF files can be viewed with the Acrobat® Reader®
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This page last modified on 04/30/09 |