Cost Constitutes Challenge For Composites Use In Bridges

Faster, stronger and greener elements need to be part of bridge construction in the U.S., accomplished through fast-track project-delivery methods, Accelerated Bridge Construction techniques or alternative materials, according to a variety of industry officials.

Fiber-reinforced polymers (FRPs) could contribute to all those themes, said speakers at the International Bridge Conference held in Pittsburgh on June 14-17. “The ABC mantra is ‘Get in, get out and stay out,’” noted David White, marketing manager with Sika Corp., Lyndhurst, N.J., a manufacturer of FRP components. “FRPs will fit all of that, especially the ‘stay out.’”

But the higher initial cost of installing composite materials is still a challenge, especially in an era of tight budgets, speakers concurred. “It is a hard sell. The departments of transportation know...that they will last forever, but they just can’t do it,” said John R. Hillman, founder and president of HC Bridge Co. LLC, Chicago. It is supplying composite-hybrid beams for projects in New Jersey and Maine (see story above).

Mark Henderson, principal with LJB Inc., Dayton, Ohio, says a new set of American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials specifications for pedestrian bridges using FRPs is now out and for the most part reflect existing steel specs. Future specs are in the works for specifying FRPs in traffic bridge decks.

Scott Snelling, engineer with New York City-based Hardesty and Hanover LLP, proposed that FRPs, warm-mix asphalt and pozzolan cements be part of a checklist for “green” bridges akin to the LEED standards for buildings. Project-delivery methods, allowances for multimodal options and long-term maintenance considerations would also be part of such a checklist, he said.

Aileen Cho, ENR's senior transportation editor, is a native of Los Angeles and recovering New Yorker. She studied English and theater at Occidental College, where a reporter teaching the one existing journalism course encouraged her to apply for the LA Times Minority Editing Training Program. Her journalism training led to her first stories about transportation, working as a cub reporter with the Greenwich Time. Her work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times and New York Times. Many of her experiences with engineers and contractors have inspired material for her alternative theater productions way, way off Broadway. For ENR, Aileen has traveled the world, clambering over bridges in China, touring an airport in Abu Dhabi and descending into dark subway tunnels in New York City. She is a regular at transportation conferences, where she finds that airport and mass transit engineers really know how to have fun. Aileen is always eager to hop on another flight because there are so many interesting projects and people, and she gets tired of throwing her cats off her computer in her home office in Long Beach, California. She is a very conflicted Mets/Dodgers fan.

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