I-94 through downtown Detroit is usually filled with speeding cars and trucks. But traffic on the highway was recently reduced to just one vehicle, moving only a few feet every hour. With six lanes all to itself, a self-propelled modular transporter (SPMT) was carrying the newly built Second Avenue Bridge into position across the closed interstate.
The massive transportation method shutting down the I-94 freeway this week sits on dozens of axles and moves about 10 feet every 20 minutes. Known as a self-propelled modular transporter, the multi-tiered lift will be the only thing traveling down the highway this week as it helps install the Second Avenue bridge over I-94 in Detroit this week.
MaineDOT used the Accelerate Bridge Construction technique to reconstruct the Veranda Street bridge in Portland as the key part of a project that will be completed later this year.
Final preparations are underway to install a landmark railway bridge in Birmingham that will become the longest single-span railway structure in the West Midlands.
The scenic and historic bridge, built in 1926 to span the reversing falls off Maine Rt. 175 in South Blue Hill, will soon be taken down and replaced with a modern structure. Accelerated bridge construction techniques will be used to minimize the shutdown duration
The Iowa Department of Transportation is requesting public input on the replacement of the Highway 5 bridge over Cooper Creek, about 1 1/2 miles north of Highway 2, and on the proposed state off-site detour, in Appanoose County.
Civil Engineering Associate Professor Mohamed Moustafa presented his research program at the eighth annual Arab-American Frontiers Symposium. Designed to bring together scientists, engineers, and medical professionals from the United States and 22 countries in the Arab League, symposium participants shared their research in five sessions: Advanced Materials; e-Health; Water, Food, Environment; Cybersecurity; Emerging Technologies and Society. Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC) is a process whereby the various parts of a bridge are built off-site, transported on-site, and assembled rapidly. This process is different from a more traditional method that would see the parts built on-site. Because bridges are built largely with concrete, after construction in the traditional method, the parts of the bridge would have to cure, lengthening the construction process and disruption to the natural flow of traffic in the affected area. In applying this principle to nuclear power plants, Moustafa believes his team can help advance the development of “small modular reactors” (SMRs).
