Pittsburgh doesn’t have the longest of spans or the widest of rivers, but there is always a lot to go over at the annual Intern

Pittsburgh doesn’t have the longest of spans or the widest of rivers, but there is always a lot to go over at the annual International Bridge Conference (IBC). That’s because the event, sponsored by The Engineers’ Society of Western Pennsylvania, is the only one dedicated to the creation and restoration of the elevated structures.
"Preserving Legacies and Designing Landmarks" is the theme of the 18th IBC, held June 4-6 at the Hilton Pittsburgh & Towers.
The winners of the 15th Annual IBC Bridge Awards will talk over lunch at the Bridge Awards Luncheon. Organized by The Engineers’ Society of Western Pennsylvania, ROADS & BRIDGES Magazine and Bayer Corp., the ceremony will honor this year’s John A. Roebling Medal (honoring lifetime achievement), George S. Richardson (single, recent, outstanding achievement) and Gustav Lindenthal Medal (outstanding achievement that best demonstrates innovation coupled with aesthetic merit, harmony with the environment or successful community participation) recipients. Both the Roebling and Richardson awards are sponsored by ROADS & BRIDGES, while the Lindenthal is presented by Bayer Corp.
Conference agenda
New York, New York, New York, New York—that’s all they’ll be talking about in one of the afternoon sessions during opening day talks on Monday, June 4, as this year’s featured state will present topics such as: "I-287 Cross Westchester Expressway Viaduct Replacements"; "New York’s Tappenzee Bridge—Issues and Alternatives"; "Structural Integrity Evaluation of Hoxie Gorge Bridges"; and "East River Bridges/Williamsburg Bridge Reconstruction Program."
For those who don’t want to "coast" through the p.m. hours there will be a Proprietary Sesson, which includes a presentation titled "Evaluative Testing of a Novel Weldless Open Steel Grid Deck System."
The Bridge Tour by Bus, which has been a sellout the past seven years, will run from 1-5 p.m.
Tuesday will consist of four sessions: Design, Part 1 and Rehabilitation & Strengthening in the morning followed by Design, Part 2 and Innovative Design in the afternoon.
"Past, Present and Future Developments in Spliced Concrete Girders"; "Prestressed/Precast Spliced Girder Design—The Innovative Solution"; "Design of HPS 70W Hybrid Girders for the IL 47 Bridge"; "Design and Construction of the Elizabeth Bridge"; "Foundation Design and Construction for the Route 33 Bridge Over the Lehigh River"; "Modular Bridge Expansion Joints: Fabrication, Construction and Maintenance—An Owner’s Perspective"; and "Design and Construction of the Slate Covered Bridge" form the Design, Part 1 portion.
Rehabilitation & Strengthening will cover "Reconstruction of the Eads Bridge Highway Deck"; "New Bridge Performance Measures for Prioritizing Bridges"; "Rehabilitation of the Smithton High-Level Bridge"; "When Steel Cracks: A Case Study of Virginia’s I-77 Bridges over the New River"; "Rehabilitation of the Monongahela Connecting Railroad Bridge"; "CTA Elevated Structures Over Wacker Drive Viaduct"; and "Staged Deck and Transverse Beam Replacement of a Historic Concrete Arch Bridge."
Design will have a second go of it after the break, covering "Design Considerations for Tall Piers"; "NCHRP 12-50 Bridge Software—Validation Guidelines and Examples"; "Wacker Drive Viaduct Reconstruction"; "Reliability-Based Design of Foundations"; "Design for Secondary Effects at Ultimate of Continuous, Post-Tensioned Concrete Structures Using the LRFD Specifications"; "WV Route 10 Bridge Over Buffalo Creek: West Virginia’s First Bridge Utilizing High Performance Steel"; and "Design and Construction of the Smart Road Bridge Over Wilson Creek & Route 723."
"Final Design of the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge"; "Scour Analysis for the Replacement of the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge"; "Design and Construction of a National Parkway Road Through Extreme Terrain Using Innovative Applications of Segmental Concrete"; "Innovative Movable Bridges with Welded Orthotropic Steel Decks"; "Public Involvement Creates Revolutionary Bridge Design"; "Rapid Bridge Deck Construction/Replacement Methods—A Precast Deck Solution" and "Stage II Light Rail Transit System Allegheny County, Pennsylvania" are the topics of the Innovative Design segment.
IBC’s final day will break down into five parts—Construction, Long Span Bridges, Seismic, Innovative Materials and Coatings.
"Design-Build Bridge Solutions: I-15 Interstate Freeway Reconstruction" (Construction); "Nighttime Bridge Deck Replacement with Precast Concrete Panels at Route 7 Over Route 50, Fairfax County, Virginia" (Construction); "Charles River Mainline Cable-Stayed Bridge" (Long Span Bridges); and "Main Suspension Cable Design for the Self-Anchored Suspension Span of the East San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge" (Long Span Bridges) highlight the morning sessions.
"Bridge Lessons Learned from 1999 Turkish & Taiwan Earthquakes" (Seismic) and "Introducing the First Recycled Plastic Bridge in the World" (Innovative Materials) should make the afternoon interesting.
Seminars offered at IBC are: "Post-Tensioning Application to Bridge Design and Construction" (Tuesday, 8 a.m.-noon); "Technology in Bridge Fabrication/Bridging the Change" (Tuesday, 1-5 p.m.); and "Challenges in Implementing LRFD for Foundation Design" (Wednesday, 8 a.m.-noon).