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National Bridge Inventory
The National Bridge Inventory (NBI) is a database, compiled by the Federal Highway Administration, with information on all bridges and tunnels in the United States that have roads passing above or below them. That is similar to the grade-crossing identifier number database, compiled by the Federal Railroad Administration, which identifies all railroad crossings. The bridge information includes the design of the bridge and the dimensions of the usable portion. The data is often used to analyze bridges and to judge their condition. The inventory is developed for the purpose of having a unified database for bridges to ensure the safety of the traveling public, as required by the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1968. It includes identification information, bridge types and specifications, operational conditions, bridge data including geometric data and functional description, and inspection data. Any bridge more than 20 ft (6 m) long used for vehicular traffic is included. Descripti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Federal Highway Administration
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two programs, the Federal-aid Highway Program and the Federal Lands Highway Program. Its role had previously been performed by the Office of Road Inquiry, Office of Public Roads and the Bureau of Public Roads. History Background With the coming of the bicycle in the 1890s, interest grew regarding the improvement of streets and roads in America. The traditional method of putting the burden on maintaining roads on local landowners was increasingly inadequate. In 1893, the federal Office of Road Inquiry (ORI) was founded; in 1905, it was renamed the Office of Public Roads (OPR) and made a division of the United States Department of Agriculture. Demands grew for local and state government to take charge. With the coming of the automobile, urgent efforts were made to upgrade and moderniz ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bridges
A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually something that is otherwise difficult or impossible to cross. There are many different designs of bridges, each serving a particular purpose and applicable to different situations. Designs of bridges vary depending on factors such as the function of the bridge, the nature of the terrain where the bridge is constructed and anchored, the material used to make it, and the funds available to build it. The earliest bridges were likely made with fallen trees and stepping stones. The Neolithic people built boardwalk bridges across marshland. The Arkadiko Bridge, dating from the 13th century BC, in the Peloponnese is one of the oldest arch bridges in existence and use. Etymology The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' traces the origin of the word ''bri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tunnels
A tunnel is an underground or undersea passageway. It is dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, or laid under water, and is usually completely enclosed except for the two portals common at each end, though there may be access and ventilation openings at various points along the length. A pipeline differs significantly from a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube construction techniques rather than traditional tunnel boring methods. A tunnel may be for foot or vehicular road traffic, for rail traffic, or for a canal. The central portions of a rapid transit network are usually in the tunnel. Some tunnels are used as sewers or aqueducts to supply water for consumption or for hydroelectric stations. Utility tunnels are used for routing steam, chilled water, electrical power or telecommunication cables, as well as connecting buildings for convenient passage of people and equipment.Salazar, Waneta. ''Tunnels in Civil Engineering''. Delhi, India : Wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous states border Canada to the north and Mexico to the south, with the semi-exclave of Alaska in the northwest and the archipelago of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. The United States asserts sovereignty over five Territories of the United States, major island territories and United States Minor Outlying Islands, various uninhabited islands in Oceania and the Caribbean. It is a megadiverse country, with the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, third-largest land area and List of countries and dependencies by population, third-largest population, exceeding 340 million. Its three Metropolitan statistical areas by population, largest metropolitan areas are New York metropolitan area, New York, Greater Los Angeles, Los Angel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Federal Railroad Administration
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is an agency in the United States Department of Transportation (DOT). The agency was created by the Department of Transportation Act of 1966. The purpose of the FRA is to promulgate and enforce railroad, rail safety regulations, administer railroad assistance programs, conduct research and development in support of improved railroad safety and national rail transportation policy, provide for the rehabilitation of Northeast Corridor rail passenger service, and consolidate government support of rail transportation activities. The FRA is one of ten agencies within DOT concerned with intermodal freight transport, intermodal transportation. It operates through seven divisions under the offices of the Administrator and Deputy Administrator. These divisions are Financial Management and Administration, Chief Counsel, Civil Rights, Public Affairs, Public Engagement, Railroad Policy and Development, and Safety. It has a staff of about 850. Func ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Federal Aid Highway Act Of 1968
Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or regional governments that are partially self-governing; a union of states *Federal republic, a federation which is a republic *Federalism, a political philosophy *Federalist, a political belief or member of a political grouping *Federalization, implementation of federalism Particular governments *Government of Argentina *Government of Australia *Federal government of Brazil *Government of Canada *Cabinet of Germany *Federal government of Iraq *Government of India *Federal government of Mexico *Federal government of Nigeria *Government of Pakistan *Government of the Philippines *Government of Russia *Government of South Africa *Federal government of the United States **United States federal law **United States federal courts *Federal gover ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fracture Critical
A fracture critical bridge is a bridge or similar span that is vulnerable to collapse of one or more spans as a result of the failure in tension of a single element. While a fracture critical design is not considered unsafe, it is subject to special inspection requirements that focus on the tension elements of its structure. Definition For a bridge to be defined as fracture critical: * It must possess structural members that are subject to tensile stresses from bending or axial forces. * The members must be non-redundant, lacking alternate load paths or means of safely redistributing forces in the event of a tensile failure. While members subject to compressive stress may also fail catastrophically, they typically do not fail from crack initiation. Examples of bridge designs that would typically be considered fracture critical are: * Most truss bridges with two main load-bearing assemblies * Two-beam girder bridges (three-beam bridges in California) * Two-cell steel box girder ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Francis Scott Key Bridge Collapse
On March 26, 2024, at 1:28a.m. Eastern Time Zone, EDT (05:28 UTC), the main Span (engineering), spans and the three nearest northeast approach spans of the Francis Scott Key Bridge (Baltimore), Francis Scott Key Bridge across the Patapsco River in the Baltimore metropolitan area of Maryland, United States, collapsed after the container ship ''MV Dali, Dali'' struck one of its Pier (architecture), piers. Six members of a maintenance crew working on the roadway were killed, while two more were rescued from the river. The collapse blocked most shipping to and from the Port of Baltimore for 11 weeks. Maryland Governor Wes Moore called the event a "global crisis" that had affected more than 8,000 jobs. The economic impact of the closure of the waterway has been estimated at $15 million per day. Maryland officials have said they plan to Francis Scott Key Bridge replacement, replace the bridge by fall 2028 at an estimated cost of $1.7 billion to $1.9 billion. Background The Fran ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
I-35W Mississippi River Bridge
The I-35W Mississippi River bridge (officially known as Bridge 9340) was an eight-lane, steel truss arch bridge that carried Interstate 35W across the Mississippi River one-half mile (875 m) downstream from the Saint Anthony Falls in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The bridge opened in 1967, and was Minnesota's third busiest, carrying 140,000 vehicles daily. After only 39 years in service, it experienced a catastrophic failure during the evening rush hour on August 1, 2007, killing 13 people and injuring 145. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) cited a design flaw as the likely cause of the collapse, noting that an excessively thin gusset plate ripped along a line of rivets. Additional weight on the bridge at the time of failure was also cited by the NTSB as a contributing factor. Help came immediately from mutual aid in the seven-county Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area and emergency response personnel, charities, and volunteers. Within a few days ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pontis
Pontis is a software application developed to assist in managing highway bridges and other structures. Known as AASHTOWare Bridge Management since version 5.2, Pontis stores bridge inspection and inventory data based on the U.S. Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) National Bridge Inventory system coding guidelines. In addition, the system stores condition data for each of a bridge's structural elements. The system is designed to support the bridge inspection process, recommend a bridge preservation policy, predict future bridge conditions, and recommend projects to perform on one or more bridges to derive the most agency and user benefit from a specified budget. The system uses a Markovian Decision Process to model bridge deterioration and recommend an optimal preservation policy. It uses the Markovian model results, in conjunction with a simulation model, to predict future conditions and recommend work. History In 1991, the FHWA sponsored the development of a bridge management ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Long-Term Pavement Performance
Long-Term Pavement Performance Program, known as LTPP, is a research project supported by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to collect and analyze pavement data in the United States and Canada. Currently, the LTPP acquires the largest road performance database. History The LTPP was initiated by the Transportation Research Board (TRB) of the National Research Council (NRC) in the early 1980s. The FHWA with the cooperation of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) sponsored the program. The program was focusing on examining the deterioration of the nation’s highway and bridge infrastructure system. In the early 1980s, TRB and NRC suggested that a "Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP)" should be started to concentrate on research and development activities that would majorly contribute to highway transportation improvement. Later in 1986, the detailed programs were published entitled "Strategic Highway Research Program—Resea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
