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Focus

Federal Highway Administration / Publications / Focus / May 2004

Accelerating Infrastructure Innovations

Publication Number: FHWA-HRT-04-025
Date: May 2004

Articles in this Issue

Building High-Performance Structures with Composites Technology

Durable, reliable, and corrosion and fatigue resistant. In projects across the country, fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composites are displaying these advantages in both new bridge construction and the repair and retrofit of existing structures. Many of these projects were part of the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) Innovative Bridge Research and Construction (IBRC) Program, which has provided $108 million since 1998 to advance the use of high-performance materials in bridge applications.

FHWA Structures Team: A One-Stop Bridge Information Source

From load and resistance factor design (LRFD) to high-performance materials and bridge inspection and management, the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) Structures Technical Service Team can provide transportation customers with the latest in bridge information and technology. Headquartered in FHWA's Resource Center office in Baltimore, Maryland, the team also has technical specialists located across the country (see sidebar). It is one of 10 new specialized Technical Service Teams created by FHWA in 2003.

Pennsylvania Avenue Gets a New Look

One of America's most famous streets is getting a face-lift. In early January, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) began a 9-month reconstruction project on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC, that includes removing existing concrete barriers that had been installed to close the street off to vehicle traffic and replacing them with steel bollards. The project, which takes place in front of numerous security-sensitive areas such as the White House, runs between 15th and 17th Streets, and also incorporates one block each of the adjoining streets of Madison Place and Jackson Place.

Teaming Up to Accelerate Lake Washington's Floating Bridge Project

Washington State Route 520 (SR 520) is one of only two major State highways running east-west between Seattle on the west side of Lake Washington and the communities of Bellevue, Redmond, and Kirkland on the east side of the lake. Designed for an average daily traffic of 65,000 vehicles, the road now carries between 110,000 and 120,000 vehicles daily and is often congested for 13 hours on weekdays.

In Brief

The Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) Design Guide Implementation Team will be holding seven workshops this year to introduce State highway agency and FHWA engineers to the forthcoming Mechanistic-Empirical Design Guide for New and Rehabilitated Pavement Structures (see March 2004 Focus). The new Guide will provide a uniform basis for the design of flexible, rigid, and composite pavements using mechanistic-empirical approaches that more realistically characterize inservice pavements and improve the reliability of designs.

Highway Technology Calendar

Updated: 06/27/2017
Federal Highway Administration | 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE | Washington, DC 20590 | 202-366-4000