Long
span, short span, arch, box and cable.
Long span, short span, arch, box and cable. No matter
what size, no matter what shape, bridges continue
to rise rapidly across America. "Congestion
is a problem of demand outpacing capacity,"
said new FHWA Administrator Mary Peters in her first
address to the American Association of State Highway
& Transportation Officials (AASHTO). "
Sometimes transportation really is about asphalt,
concrete and steel."
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| Photo
of Crooked River Bridge, courtesy of TY Lin
International. |
Yet, Peters' words leave room for pause. In a
recent meeting of the AASHTO Board of Directors,
she commented that, after several years of steadily
increasing highway allocations under the Revenue
Aligned Budget Authority provisions, states may
experience cuts in program levels if early projections
of revenue to the Highway Trust Fund prove true.
Still, the American Road and Transportation Builders
Association (ARTBA) remains optimistic. According
to Bill Buechner, vice president of ARTBA's economics
& research division, the highway construction
market should grow 3 to 6% in 2002.
"Transportation continues to be the construction
market sector least affected by an economic recession,"
Buechner said. "Most other segments of the
construction market are expected to be down in
2002 as a result of the recession. However, the
guaranteed increase in federal funding for highway,
bridge and transit projects provide a solid-and
growing-base for transportation investment next
year."
Rehab/Replacement
Mounting
"Bridge rehabilitation is an extremely critical
application," says Peter Larkin, business
development manager for retaining wall structures
at Tensar Earth Technologies. "Many bridge
structures are carrying double or triple the number
of vehicular loading cycles for which they were
originally designed."
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| Photo of Jamuna Bridge, courtesy of TY Lin International. |
Even as bridges of all sizes take shape, some
carry more challenge than others. And sometimes
those challenges have little to do with creative
design. In Maryland, the Woodrow Wilson Bridge
has faced seemingly unending obstacles. The most
prominent one is the dispute over a project labor
agreement (PLA). In December, the Federal Highway
Administration denied Maryland's request to place
a union-only PLA on the bridge construction. "Maryland
made the right decision in moving forward to construct
the Woodrow Wilson Bridge through full and open
competition," says Kirk Pickerel, president
and CEO of the Associated Builders and Contractors.
"Studies have shown that PLAs inflate the
cost of construction. The union-only PLA so avidly
sought by Maryland would have driven up costs
of this vital project while discriminating against
local workers and potentially delaying completion
of the project." Now that construction can
move forward, the project is burdened by construction
bids that exceed the original cost estimates by
72%.
Controlling Costs
One way to keep bridge construction moving is
to keep costs contained. One way is to perform
subsurface utility engineering (SUE). The process
combines geophysics, surveying and civil engineering
to accurately map existing underground utilities.
"We have seen repeatedly that when you utilize
SUE for major projects such as this, the return
on investment is significant," says Nicholas
Zembillas, TBE senior vice president. "Our
clients can't afford to have insufficient and
unreliable utility information that may result
in costly delays and damages."
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| Photo of Jamuna Bridge, courtesy of TY Lin International. |
The Federal Highway Administration (FWHA) determined
that a minimum of $1 billion a year could be saved
on highway construction nationwide if SUE is included
in the project's design phase. According to the
FHWA, for every dollar spent on SUE by a state
highway department, the state realized an average
savings of $4.62 in highway construction costs.
"Using SUE, which generates three-dimensional
maps of underground utilities, gives engineers
the opportunity to make smart design decisions
about infrastructure placement, ultimately saving
millions in construction and claims costs," said
Mark Pitchford, TBE's director of SUE/survey services
for Florida.
FWHA determined that a minimum
of $1 billion a year could be
saved on highway construction
nationwide if SUE is included
in the project's design phase.
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| Photo of Jamuna Bridge, courtesy of TY Lin International. |
Declining
Deficiency
In 1998, 29% of the nation's bridges were rated
structurally deficient or functionally obsolete
by the FFWA. Over the last 10 years, the number
of bridge deficiencies has declined from 34.6%
in 1992 to 29.6% in 1998. FHWA's strategic plan
states that less than 25% of the nation's bridges
should be classified as deficient by 2008.
According to the American Society of Civil Engineers
(ASCE), TEA-21 funds, combined with additional
revenues from state and local governments, have
begun to make an impact on bridge projects in
all 50 states. Its research shows that the total
highway expenditures by all levels of government
and all expenditure types increased from $93.5
billion in 1995, before TEA-21, to $111.9 billion
in 1999. Concurrently, the obligation of federal
funds for bridge projects more than doubled from
$2.4 billion in 1995 to $5 billion in 1999.
The FHWA contends that the cost to eliminate
deficiencies in America's bridges would run $10.6
billion a year for a 20-year period. Additionally,
it estimates that the cost to maintain the nation's
bridges over the same period is $5.8 billion per
year.
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