On August 1, 1998, the ATC/MCEER Joint Venture, a partnership of the Applied Technology Council (ATC) and the Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research (MCEER), initiated work on a project sponsored by the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) of the Transportation Research Board. The objective of NCHRP Project 12-49 is to develop new specifications for the seismic design of highway bridges, which can be incorporated into the AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications. These new specifications will be nationally applicable with provisions for all seismic zones. The results of research currently in progress or recently completed, along with current demonstrated practice, will be the principal resources for this project.

The design criteria to be developed under NCHRP Project 12-49 will address the following: (1) strength-based and displacement-based design philosophies; (2) single- and dual-level performance criteria; (3) acceleration hazard maps and spectral ordinate maps; (4) spatial variation effects; (5) effects of vertical acceleration; (6) site amplification factors; (7) inelastic spectra and use of response modification factors; (8) equivalent static nonlinear analysis methods; (9) modeling of soil-structure interaction and structural discontinuities at expansion joints; (10) duration of the seismic event; and (11) design and detailing requirements for both steel and concrete super- and substructures.

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