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November 28, 2015 • Vol. IX • No. 24 • 470 Maryland Drive • Ft. Washington, PA 19034 • 215/885-2900 • Toll Free 800-523-2200 • Fax 215/885-2910
Inside
Crews Face Challenges to Repair Colorado Crib Walls
Data from the BEAST will allow the projection of future performance and longevity of bridge materials and components.
Distel Contracting photo Record Crowd Attends GIE Expo in Louisville...6
Major challenges with the site include very steep slopes, falling rock, and the very narrow work site.
Rutgers’ BEAST Can Study Bridge Material Lifespan
Holiday Gifts for Big (and Little) Cont ractors...8
By Brenda Ruggiero CEG CORRESPONDENT
Nixon-Egli Celebrates 50 Years...32
Table of Contents ................4 California Section ........29-37
By Brenda Ruggiero CEG CORRESPONDENT
Trailers Section ............41-50 Paving Section ............ 53-62 Auction Section ..........66-73 Business Calendar ............71 Advertisers Index ..............74
In San Juan and Ouray counties in Colorado, the Colorado Department of Transportation is working on a project to repair five existing crib walls on Red Mountain Pass (U.S. 550). The purpose is to improve the safety and integrity of the roadway by reinforcing the under-highway embankment support walls. The work will include the construction of a reinforced concrete slab underneath the roadway (at Ruby Walls), and rock excava-
tion at MP 79. The average daily traffic on this stretch of U.S. 550 is reportedly 2,164. Work progressed from July 7 to Nov. 15, when the winter shutdown began. Weather permitting, it will resume again in mid-April and continue through late June 2016. The project has a $5.7 million total estimated budget, which will not be finalized until the project’s completion. Funding is a combination of retaining wall construction funding, Federal Emergency Relief (Ruby Walls), and Public Lands Highway funds. see CRIB page 24
Rutgers University’s Center for Advanced Infrastructure and Transportation (CAIT) recently unveiled the BEAST (Bridge Evaluation and Accelerated Structural Testing) a facility created to study future performance and lifespan of materials and elements, as well as maintenance, rehabilitation and preservation techniques for aging highway bridges. The system is designed to quantitatively measure stresses and deterioration caused by extreme traffic and environmental loading on full-scale bridge systems and to do so in an extremely compressed time frame. Data from the BEAST will allow the projection of future performance and longevity of bridge materials and components. “The BEAST uniquely subjects full-scale bridge deck and superstructure systems of up to 50 ft. (15.24 m) long by 28 ft. (8.53 m) wide to extreme traffic loading and rapid-cycle environmental changes in a controlled environment. This extreme loading ‘fast forwards’ aging by as much as 30 times, making it possible to simulate 15 to 20 years of wear-and-tear in just a few months,” explained Andrés Roda, research engineer for the see BEAST page 22