June 6, 2014
Innovation of the Month: High-Friction Surface Treatments
The Every Day Counts innovation of the month for June is high-friction surface treatments, pavement overlays that provide exceptional skid resistance. The Federal Highway Administration is highlighting the technology to encourage its use as a safety countermeasure at high-crash locations, such as curves, intersections and interchange ramps.
Each year, more than 25 percent of road fatalities happen at or near horizontal curves. A combination of factors increases the potential for crashes: the task of negotiating a curve, pavement surface wear caused by turning tires, and the higher friction demand of moving a vehicle through a curve compared to the rest of the road.
High-friction surface treatments place a thin layer of durable aggregates on a polymer binder to improve pavement friction at locations such as curves and intersections at downgrades where it's needed most.
When Bellevue, Washington, used a high-friction surface treatmenton an intersection approach, crashes dropped 78 percent.
A publication developed by the Every Day Counts team, "High-Friction Surface Treatments: Frequently Asked Questions," covers basic information on the technology, including safety aspects, cost, environmental impacts and installation.
Arizona Advances Innovation Exchange Campaign
The Arizona Council for Transportation Innovation hosted the second in a series of Innovation Exchanges on May 20. Industry representatives made presentations on diverging diamond interchanges and continuous flow intersections. About 70 transportation professionals participated in the event, part of the council's Innovative Exchange Campaign to build a culture of innovation in the state. The next Innovation Exchange is August 19.
Minnesota to Break Ground on First CM/GC Project
A June 18 groundbreaking ceremony is planned for the Winona Bridge project, the first the Minnesota Department of Transportation is delivering with the construction manager/general contractor method. The Winona Bridge carries State Highway 43 across the Mississippi River. The project includes rehabilitation of the existing historic through truss, reconstruction of the approach spans and construction of a new parallel bridge. The Minnesota DOT produced a fact sheet outlining the benefits of using CM/GC on the project.
New York Holds Regional Incident Management Training
The New York State Department of Transportation, Niagara International Transportation Technology Coalition and FHWA hosted an advanced traffic incident managementworkshop in western New York. The June 4 event brought together managers from all responder disciplines, including law enforcement, fire, transportation and towing, with the goal of developing regional transportation incident management programs.
Ohio Focuses on Accelerated Bridge Construction
In Ohio, state and local officials regularly choose prefabricated bridge elements and systems as a cost-effective way to accelerate bridge construction and reduce traffic delays. The state has about 7,000 prestressed concrete box beams and 800 precast concrete box culverts in its inventory. Lorain County, Ohio, is administering a local project using accelerated bridge construction, prefabricated bridge elements and systems and design-build contracting to build a bridge in North Ridgeville. The new Sugar Ridge Road Bridge is made of nine precast concrete sections that were set in place in one day in May.
Ohio Ready for First Slide-in Bridge Project
Construction is expected to begin in July on the Ohio Department of Transportation's first lateral bridge slide project. The new bridge will be built on temporary works parallel to the existing structure. Once the old structure is removed, the new bridge will be slid into place. The slide-in technique will accelerate bridge construction on I-75 and minimize traffic delays and road closures in Bowling Green.
FHWA Offers Training on Innovative Technologies
About 30 members of the Navajo Nation's Department of Transportation in Window Rock, New Mexico, learned about geosynthetic reinforced soil integrated bridge systems and the construction manager/general contractor project delivery method at an FHWA training session. Participants in the May event discussed using the technologies to expedite delivery of construction projects while saving money and using local resources and people to do the work.
Assistance to Implement SHRP 2 Solutions Available
Twelve products in the areas of highway safety, renewal, capacity and reliability are available in round four of the Implementation Assistance Program, part of Strategic Highway Research Program 2. The application process is now open for state highway agencies, metropolitan planning organizations, local and tribal agencies and Federal Lands Highway Divisions. Application information is available on the GoSHRP2 website. Applications are due June 27.
