As noted in a previous article, the United States boasts a network of railways that carry almost 30 percent of U.S. freight movement by ton-miles, which is the length and weight of freight travel. These privately owned tracks add up to about 140,000 route miles and are found in every state except for Hawaii. In […]
In the design, construction, and operation of any bridge, there are many technical details that require close inspection and thorough documentation to ensure its safety. One such detail is regular inspection of the bridge during all stages of its life, including during construction and once it’s in operation. There are specific inspection requirements during each […]
When you think of railroad bridge inspections, you might envision inspectors in hard using big trucks and other railroad bridge inspection equipment to test the structure’s integrity. While that accurately represents what these inspections entail, there is a lot more work that goes into it than that. Inspectors must be knowledgeable about different types of […]
Bridges, like people, require maintenance as they get older. And the United States has plenty of aging highway bridges. According to the most recent Infrastructure Report Card published by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), there are more than 617,000 bridges across the United States. However, more than 42 percent of those bridges are […]
Have you ever wondered why traffic control personnel use a particular type of traffic control device in a given situation? If so, you are not alone. Many drivers also wonder this and may even wonder if these workers have some sort of secret code that they use to determine the best way to direct them. […]
The trucking industry has estimated that close to 12 billion tons of freight were moved by truck over America’s highways. And according to the American Trucking Association, trucks move roughly 72.5 percent of the nation’s freight by weight. And all those trucks regularly traversed many of the almost 620,000 highway bridges across the nation. But […]
Bridge deck inspections are a significant component for many DOTs or the firms they employ for that purpose. And there are over 610,000 highway bridges in the United States, and most of these bridges’ construction, repair, rehabilitation, and inspections are funded by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). Responsibility for the regular inspection of these highway […]
Anyone who works with highway bridges, whether constructing them, maintaining, repairing them, or even inspecting them, their biggest fear is a bridge failure. Keep in mind that a bridge “failure” does not always entail the collapse of a bridge span but can mean the presence of a significant degree of damage. If the damage, regardless […]
Road construction, repairs, and maintenance – including that done on highway bridges – almost always requires a temporary traffic control set up. This can range from a small flagging operation, to a large scale lane closure consisting of TTC signs, arrow boards, message boards, barricades, and truck mounted attenuators. Temporary Traffic Control (TTC), also referred […]
America’s highway and railway bridges must be continually inspected, repaired, and maintained. And it’s not a small task! As most of those in the industry know, the United States has more than 617,000 bridges and, of these, almost 260,000 of them are 50 years old or more. That’s 42 percent of our bridges, by the […]
