Historical Concrete Bridge Restored for Modern Demands

The South Slough Bridge #9, a concrete arch bridge in Washington State’s Snohomish County, was originally constructed in 1918 with a the deck that was less than 20 feet wide.  Modern traffic demands and safety concerns necessitated widening the bridge to 28 feet.

Because of its historical value, the county employed a creative design to keep the existing solid arch foundation, while at the same time widening the bridge deck. To prevent overloading the arches, earth fill within the arches was replaced with light-weight cellular concrete.  Thirty-two precast concrete slabs, 8 feet by 31 feet, were placed side by side and cantilevered 4.5 feet on each side.  This fast-tracked project was completed in 17 months from start of design to end of construction and built for $5 million less than estimated.

South Slough Bridge #9 was a winner of the 2008 PCA Bridge Awards.  Jurors were impressed by the innovative use of lightweight concrete to save the historic Luten arch and reduce construction time and money.
Read more about the 2008 PCA Bridge Winners at www.cement.org/newsroom
Submit a nomination for the 2010 Bridge Awards at www.cement.org/bridges

Register Today for the 2009 Fall Committee Meetings

Registration is open for PCA's fall committee meetings, August 24-25, 2009 at the Westin Michigan Avenue in Chicago.

Most committees of PCA's Research and Technical Council and Market Promotion Council will meet, as well as committees of the Cement Association of Canada.

In addition, Ed Sullivan, PCA’s chief economist, will present his fall economic update on Tuesday during the group breakfast.
Register for the meeting online
Contact Michelle Nyquist

Technical Session Scheduled for Fall Meeting

The Manufacturing Technical Committee will meet on August 24, in conjunction with the Fall PCA Committee Meetings, Westin Michigan Avenue in Chicago. Presentations include:

Mercury Control: Lessons Learned from the Power Industry. Bob McIlvaine will discuss mercury control in the power industry with the critical lessons that the cement industry can take away from those experiences.

Potential Solutions for Mercury Control in the Cement Industry. Ron Landreth will discuss real world cement plant applications of sorbent injection technologies along with a hybrid approach using inline particulate control devices (baghouse) in conjunction with sorbent injection.

Paul Tennis will also make a presentation on recent changes to cement specifications ASTM C 150 and AASHTO M 85 as well as the harmonization of those two standards.
Contact Rick Bohan

Federal and State Highway Officials to Visit PCA

The Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) High Performance Concrete Technology Deployment Team (HPC TDT) will tour the CTLGroup laboratories on August 19.  In addition to learning more about the services provided at the laboratory, the group will also attend PCA presentations on the sustainable benefits of concrete roads and structures.  Officials from FHWA as well as state department of transportation representatives from California, Texas, Virginia, and Illinois will attend.

On August 18, the Team will conduct its regional meeting which will include a presentation by Martha VanGeem of CTLGroup speaking on Life Cycle Inventory and Life Cycle Assessment for Highways and Bridges.

The FHWA’s High Performance Concrete Technology Deployment Team was created to motivate and help State DOTs build more economical and durable bridges using high performance concrete.  Since 1997, the TDT has assisted several states in the design and construction of HPC bridges.
Contact Sue Lane

But Does It Come with Hollandaise Sauce?

As part of its annual open house, Ocean Concrete on Granville Islan, Vancouver, British Columbia, used one of its truck drums to promote the Granville Island Farmers Market.   In 2008, the company painted a fully functional concrete truck as an oversized strawberry.  This year, Ocean promoted locally grown asparagus and transformed the truck drum into an enormous asparagus bunch.

The open house at the plant attracts thousands of people and includes industry displays on concrete, insulated concrete form home construction, admixtures, a model of a cement kiln, and tours of a tugboat.