By: Bill Wilson
The place to be is PittsburghThe place to be is Pittsburgh. The state to be is Kentucky.
The International Bridge Conference (IBC) will once again be held in the Steel City on June 12-14, and this year’s featured region is the Blue Grass neighbor to the south. But perhaps the most anticipated event of the three-day meeting is the IBC awards program. The Engineers’ Society of Western Pennsylvania, in association with ROADS & BRIDGES and Bayer Corp., will present the John A. Roebling Medal, the George S. Richardson Medal and the Gustav Lindenthal Medal at a luncheon on Monday, June 12.
Another highlight will be IBC Expo 2000, which will include 106 of the organizations and corporations involved in the bridge industry.
Monday, June 12
Kentucky will enjoy an afternoon at the podium during the opening day of IBC 2000.
Keynote presentations by Peter Buckland, Buckland & Taylor, British Columbia, Canada, and Secretary James C. Codell III, Commonwealth of Kentucky, Transportation Cabinet, fill the 8:30-11 a.m. session. After the awards luncheon, the featured state will have its say during the 1-5 p.m. slot.
"Kentucky’s Historic Covered Bridges," "Innovative Contracting and Construction Methods," "Phased Construction Replacement of the Clays Ferry Bridge," "Full-Depth Bridge Deck Overlays," "Kentucky’s Large Diameter Drilled Shafts on the US 27 over Cumberland River Bridge," "Kentucky Route 9 Reconstruction Project - Wall to Wall Success," "FRP Composites in Kentucky’s Bridges" and "Cabled-Stayed Bridge Construction in Kentucky: A New Experience" will be the topics of discussion.
A Proprietary Session will take place between 4-6 p.m. Scheduled talks will cover "Engineered FRP Products for the Bridge Industry," "Experimental Investigation of Concrete Beams Strengthened with Prestressed CFRP Sheets at Low Temperatures," "Overfilled Precast Concrete Arch Bridge Structures," "Use of Lock-up Devices for Structural Strengthening of Carquinez Straits Bridge," "Corrosion Protection of Cables," "Embedded Galvanic Anodes Neutralize the Ring-Anode Effect by Controlling Corrosion of Reinforcing Steel on a Local Scale" and "E-Krete - Innovative Material for Thin Bridge Deck Overlay and Bridge Deck Patching."
Tuesday, June 13
Attendees should brace themselves for a "long" morning. The Long Span Bridges segment (8:30 a.m. - noon) will include "Design Concepts of the San Francisco - Oakland Bay Bridge," "Design of the Superstructure of the San Francisco - Oakland Bay Bridge Suspension Span," "Renewal of Manhattan Bridge for the Next Century," "Bridge Type Protection for US 16 Over Hell Canyon," "Design of the Single Tower of the San Francisco - Oakland Bay Bridge Suspension Span," "The New Carquinez Bridge - Design Advancement" and the "Tagus River Suspension Bridge - Retrofit for Railroad."
Innovative Materials, Special Interest sessions and a seminar are other points of interest between 8:30 a.m. - noon. "A ‘Compositely Acting’ FRP Deck and Girder System," "The Design & Construction of Double-Deck Post-Tensioned HPC Bridges for Airport Terminal Frontal Road System," "Stainless Steel Reinforcement in Bridge Construction - Status 2000," "Installing a FRP Deck on a Truss Bridge," "Strengthening of Reinforced and Prestressed Concrete Members Using CFRP Laminates and Bars," "Structural Reinforcement of Bridges With CFRP Fibers" and "Suitability of Current Design Practice in the Proportioning of High Performance Steel Girders and Beams" forms the line-up for the Innovative Materials session.
Areas of "special interest" are: "Coatings: Part 1," "FEM Bridge Design & Construction - Immediate Benefits of Automated Design Tools" and "Fast Track Hydrodemolotion."
"Grid Reinforcement Concrete Bridge Decks: Design and Current Practice" will be covered in the seminar portion.
Rehabilitation & Strengthening and Movable Bridges/ Design-Build will be the talk of the afternoon sessions.
In the Rehabilitation & Strengthening portion, topics include "Technical Design Challenges of the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge," "NYC Movable Bridge Reconstruction Program," "17th Street Causeway Bridge - A Signature Bascule Bridge," "An Innovative V-Shaped Pier and Leaf for the 17th Street Causeway Bascule Bridge," "Sagadahoc Bridge - America’s Longest Precast Span at 420 ft Features Unique Design-Build Selection Process," "JFK: 8.7 Miles of Precast Superstructure Built From Above in Existing Right-of-Way" and "Design of the Rte 895 Bridge Over the James River Richmond, Virginia."
"Coatings: Part 2" and "State of the Art on FRP Materials in the Bridge Industry" are slated for the Special Interest session. "Pin Piles (Micropile) for Bridge Foundations" will be talked about in the seminar.
A Pittsburgh Bridge Tour takes place between 1-5 p.m.
Wednesday, June 14
Construction (8 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.), Design 1 (8 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.), Special Interest Sessions (8 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.), a seminar on FRP deck design and construction (8 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.), Cable-Stayed Bridges (1:30 - 3:45 p.m.) and Design 2 (1:30 - 3:45 p.m.) will wrap-up the conference on the final day.