June 2013

This month’s newsletter includes information about:

• Skagit River Bridge Replacement
• 2013 NASCC Sessions Now Online
• University Students Display Engineering Prowess in National Steel Bridge Competition
• Fred R. Beckmann, Former AISC Director of Bridges, Dies at 82
• Deadline Approaching to Nominate Your Top Road Projects
• This Month's Stories in Modern Steel Construction Magazine
• Upcoming Industry Events

I-5 Skagit River Bridge Replacement

Acrow Bridge has provided the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) with two prefabricated modular steel bridges, which will be used side-by-side to replace the damaged section of the Interstate 5 bridge that collapsed into the Skagit River on May 23. The temporary spans will allow traffic to safely resume on the bridge while a permanent span is built.

 

View a video of the I-5 Skagit River Bridge – Temporary Bridge Animation - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pmaYikWdfY

 

Bill Killeen, President and CEO of Acrow Bridge said, “Prefabricated modular steel bridges are used all over the country to transport heavy traffic, as permanent structures or temporary detour bridges. Their design allows for fast customization, assembly and installation, which is critical in situations where safe passage and access need to be restored quickly.”

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) advocates the use of prefabricated modular systems, because they offer significant time and cost savings, safety benefits, environmental advantages and convenience for travelers.

The two Acrow bridges that will be used on the Skagit River Bridge are each 160 ft long with roadway widths of 24 ft. The bridges will be positioned next to each other to support four lanes of interstate highway traffic. Acrow is utilizing some of its $30 million in inventory from its yards in Camas, Wash., and Lafayette, N.J., to supply these two bridges. Acrow’s offices in Camas and Vancouver, B.C., will oversee the temporary bridge span installation.

For more information about Acrow Bridges (AISC/NSBA Member and AISC Certified Fabricator), visit them at www.acrow.com.

Photo provide by Acrow Bridge

Photo provided by Acrow Bridge

Photo provided by Acrow Bridge

Photo provided by Acrow Bridge

2013 NASCC Presentations Now Available Online

Most of the recorded NASCC sessions are now available online at www.aisc.org/2013nascconline.

Bridge sessions of interest include:

ID	Title	Speaker(s)
B1	The Bridges of St. Louis	Ernie Petzold
B2	Eggners Ferry Bridge Emergency Replacement	Mike McGregor, Jason Stith, Walter Gatti, Tom Roberts
B3	Design for Construction of Curved and/or Skewed I-girder Bridges	Brandon Chavel, Dennis Mertz, Todd Helwig
B4	Design for Construction of Curved and/or Skewed I-girder Bridges	Don White, Domenic Coletti
B5	Future Fabrication for Bridges and All Structures	Paul Fuchs, Ronnie Medlock
B6	The New Bridge QMS Certification Program	Lisa Patel, Todd Alwood
B7	Short-Span Steel Bridges - Today and in the Future	Michael Barker, Mike Culmo
B8	Innovative Bridge Design	Eric Nelson, Ted Zoli
B9	100-Year-Old Steel Bridge; Protecting Tomorrow's Centurions	Robert Healy
B10	Using NSBA's LRFD SIMON Software for Cost-Effective Steel I-Girder Design	Chris Garrell

The sessions above link to MP4 recordings - please note that the files are quite large and may take several moments to load.

Mark your calendars because NSBA’s World Steel Bridge Symposium will be co-located with NASCC next year in Toronto.

University Students Display Engineering Prowess in National Steel Bridge Competition

For the second consecutive year, a team of students from the University of California, Berkeley, have been named champions in the 2013 ASCE/AISC National Student Steel Bridge Competition (NSSBC), which took place May 31-June 1 at the University of Washington’s School of Civil and Environmental Engineering in Seattle. Also for the second straight year, second place overall went to the team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. University of California, Davis, took third place overall this year.

About 600 students from 49 qualifying teams convened to showcase their engineering skills in the competition finals. This inter-collegiate competition challenges civil engineering students to work together to design, fabricate and construct their own scaled steel bridges in the shortest time and under specific building constraints.

The bridges were judged in six key categories related to steel design and construction: construction speed; stiffness; lightness; construction economy; display; and efficiency. The teams with the best combined rankings across all six categories earn overall award recognition.

This is the third time UC Berkeley has won the national title in their history.

“I am very excited and proud of our team,” says Fayad Rahman, captain and project manager of the 30-member UC Berkeley Steel Bridge Team. “We all had great, great fun, but it turned out to be one of the best learning experiences and helped further my development as an engineer.”

Throughout the academic year, student teams work for months perfecting the design, fabrication and construction of each bridge. To reach the national event, each team must place among the top schools in one of 18 regional competitions held across the country each year. This year, 210 university teams from around the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico participated in the regional competitions.

“It’s exciting to watch the next generation of structural engineers come together and work with such passion and enthusiasm,” said Nancy Gavlin, AISC director of education. “The competition poses real-world challenges that the students face with ingenuity and professionalism.”

The top three winners in each category were:

Construction Speed	Stiffness	Lightness	Economy	Display	Efficiency
University of California, Davis SUNY College of Technology at Canton Milwaukee School of Engineering	New Jersey Institute of Technology University of Akron University of Alaska Fairbanks	University of California, Berkeley University of California, Davis Michigan Technological University	Massachusetts Institute of Technology University of California, Berkeley Cal Poly San Luis Obispo	Milwaukee School of Engineering Lakehead University Clemson University	University of California, Berkeley University of Akron University of Alaska Fairbanks

The NSSBC is sponsored by AISC in cooperation with ASCE and is co-sponsored by Bentley Systems, DS SolidWorks Corp., Nucor, the National Steel Bridge Alliance, the James F. Lincoln Arc Welding Foundation, the American Iron and Steel Institute, the Canadian Institute of Steel Construction, and the Steel Structures Education Foundation.

The complete competition rankings are available at www.nssbc.info. You can also view photos from this year’s competition on AISC’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/AISCdotORG in the “NSSBC 2013” photo album. A video showing highlights from the competition will soon be available on AISC’s YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/AISCSteelTV.

Next year’s NSSBC will be held May 23-24 at the University of Akron in Ohio. To learn more about the NSSBC, visit www.aisc.org/steelbridge or www.nssbc.info.

Fred R. Beckmann, Former AISC Director of Bridges, Dies at 82

 Fred R. Beckmann, former AISC director of bridges, passed away on May 31 at the age of 82.

He was known as one of the nation’s most-recognized experts on steel bridge fabrication. In addition to his love of bridges, he especially enjoyed sharing his advice and wisdom.

“Fred’s passion was in the building of steel bridges and he developed an understanding of how steel girders behave as loading changes during construction,” said Bill McEleney, director of the National Steel Bridge Alliance. “His desire to share this knowledge will have a lasting effect on steel bridge design and construction in the future.”

Beckmann was born in Pekin, Ill., on July 25, 1930. He graduated from the University of Illinois in 1953 with a degree in civil engineering and in 1953 married Joanne Drake, also of Pekin, and they spent the majority of their life together in Chicago Heights, Ill. He was also an avid tennis player.

Beckmann started his career in Pennsylvania at Pittsburgh-Des Moines Steel and later moved back to Illinois to work in Springfield. The majority of his career was spent at Chicago Heights Steel. He joined AISC in 1980 as its director of bridges and retired 14 years later in 1994.

In 2002, he received an AISC Lifetime Achievement Award in special recognition of his many years of exceptional service to AISC and the structural steel design, construction and academic communities.

He is survived by his wife, Joanne, their three children and their families.

The family requests donations to either Trinity Lutheran Church (2901 Western Avenue, Park Forest, IL 60466) or to AISC (general scholarship fund in Fred Beckmann’s name). Checks should be made payable to AISC Education Foundation, Inc., and mailed to: AISC, Attn: Danielle Bronkema, One E. Wacker Drive, Suite 700, Chicago, IL 60601. Please note Fred Beckmann in the memo portion of the check.

Deadline Approaching to Nominate your Top Road Projects

Nominations are now being accepted for the 2013 Top 10 Roads and Bridges list. To submit your job, go to http://www.roadsbridges.com/top-ten-roads-nomination-form.

Upon receipt of your nomination(s) the Roads & Bridges editorial staff will begin its review process to determine the Top 10 Road projects for 2013. Projects that qualify must have been in the design or construction phase over the past 18 months. Winners will be highlighted in the October issue of Roads & Bridges magazine.

Note: Past project winners are ineligible to submit.

This Month’s Bridge Stories in Modern Steel Construction Magazine

Going Big in Ohio
By Steve Hague, S.E., P.E., and Joel Halterman
The largest project in Ohio DOT history replaces an historic Cleveland crossing with a new delta girder bridge.

Chicago Crossing
By Robert Hong, S.E., P.E., P.Eng., Soliman Khudeira, S.E., P.E., Ph.D., and Joseph Glennon, P.E.
A new Chicago bridge takes over the duties of a former Centurion.

Brooklyn's Other Bridge
By Jim Talbot
The Williamsburg Bridge stands tall in the shadow of its more famous neighbor to the south.

Capitol Gains
By Brian Raff
The idea of building relationships with your elected officials is more than just hot air. Become their trusted ally and you just might become a part of their construction decision-making process.

Upcoming Industry Events

June 16-20, 2013
2013 AASHTO Subcommittee on Bridges and Structures
Portland, OR

June 24-30, 2013
3rd Orthotropic Bridge Conference
Sacramento, CA

July 29 - August 2, 2013
Short Span Steel Bridge Alliance & Bridge Task Force Meetings
Baltimore, MD

September 4-6, 2013
Western Bridge Engineer's Conference
Bellvue, WA

September 15-18, 2013
Heavy Movable Structures Conference
New Orleans, LA