Tag: bridge building: Page 19

Safety

Construction worker survives crane collapsing on top of him thanks to safety emergency plan

Some careful safety planning by a contractor’s safety manager was key in saving the life of a construction worker at a bridge reconstruction site in Elgin, Illinois, after a crane collapsed on top of him. The 51-year-old worker was working atop a barge beneath the Interstate 90 bridge that crosses the Fox River, according to […]

December 4, 2014

Technology

New “bridge in a backpack” construction method saves Vermont town time and money

Those who have driven in the Fairfield, Vermont, area recently may have wondered what construction crews were doing placing hollow tubing over Wanzer Brook. Don’t worry, the crews weren’t going crazy. They were implementing a new bridge construction method dubbed “bridge in a backpack.” According to a report from the Burlington Free-Press, the hollow tubes are made of […]

September 16, 2014

Technology

How a robot designed for Disney could extend the lives of bridges by fighting corrosion

A new robot dubbed C2D2 developed by a team of Swiss researchers is able to move atop, underneath and across any surface, checking structural integrity as it roves, and could greatly extend the lives of bridges. Both de-icing salt and CO2 in the atmosphere corrode the reinforced concrete that most bridges are made of over […]

August 27, 2014

Business

Bursting bubble of big tobacco financing gives glimpse of road building’s future without a gas tax increase

Last week I wrote about how states that engage in public-private partnerships (P3s) and other types of debt and bond financing would create short term gains and long term disaster for the road building industry. This weekend I read an article on ProPublica, an independent journalism site, that shows how the exact same thing—only using […]

August 12, 2014

Safety

Semi truck collides with bridge under construction on I-215 in California; causes falsework to collapse

A semi truck hauling sand hit a bridge currently under construction on Interstate 215 in Perris, California, earlier this week causing lumber and steel beams to collapse onto the freeway. Thankfully, construction crews were not scheduled to work on the bridge until later in the day so no workers were harmed in the accident, according […]

July 18, 2014

Business

Senate committee approves 6-year highway bill but funding questions remain

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee unanimously approved a six-year surface transportation reauthorization bill Thursday morning. Top committee members Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), committee chairman; David Vitter (R-La.), committee ranking member; Tom Carper (D-Del.), chairman of the Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure; and John Barrasso (R-Wy.), subcommittee ranking member unveiled the bill, known as the MAP-21 Reauthorization […]

May 19, 2014

Business

DOT Chief Foxx sends long-term highway bill to Congress

The U.S. Department of Transportation announced on Tuesday that Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx sent a long-term highway bill to Congress. The bill, dubbed the GROW AMERICA Act, is based on President Barack Obama’s 4-year, $302 billion transportation reauthorization proposal. Foxx said the bill aims to create jobs while offering a solution to fix the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) before it runs out of money this […]

April 30, 2014

Business

Ohio DOT embarks on its largest construction season ever with 936 projects

The Ohio Department of Transportation has announced that the 2014 construction season will be its largest ever. ODOT says the season is made up of 936 projects statewide totaling $2.5 billion. Most of the funding will come from the Ohio Turnpike which will provide $1.5 billion over the next six years. This year’s season includes […]

April 21, 2014

Business

Transportation Sec. Foxx asks taxpayers to call Congress, demand long-term highway bill in road tour stop

Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx says a short-term solution won’t do this go-around for transportation funding, and he’s on the road this week pushing the Obama administration’s four-year $302 billion plan and making localities and citizens aware of the Highway Trust Fund’s nosedive. Foxx spoke in Birmingham, Ala., Wednesday in the eighth stop of his week-long Invest in […]

April 18, 2014

Roadbuilding

A Boy and His Bridge

I’ll give a disclaimer first. This is just a gratuitous way to take advantage of my position as an editor for Better Roads and show off a picture and video of my kid. I’m biased, but I think he is a cutie. Before heading off to kindergarten today, my 5-year-old son was extremely excited about […]

January 14, 2014

Construction Equipment

Floating crane that will build the Tappan Zee Bridge, sets sail on 6k-mile journey to New York

The Left Coast Lifter has left the building. Or port, rather. Anyway, the massive floating crane, which will assist in the construction of the new Tappan Zee Bridge, recently left the Port of Oakland to embark on a 6,000-mile journey to New York Harbor, according to The Journal News of Westchester County, New York. The […]

January 2, 2014

Construction Equipment

Beautiful Bay Bridge time-lapse compresses 42k hours of construction into 4 mintues

Recently, construction was completed on the eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. The $6.4 billion bridge replaced a structure damaged in a 1989 earthquake and last week opened to traffic. Since then, EarthCam has released its time-lapse footage of all 42,000 hours of construction that took place on the bridge. The footage is […]

September 9, 2013