Media report on testing of new bridge at Advanced Structures and Composites Center

WABI (Channel 5), News Center Maine, WVII (Channel 7) and Engineering.com reported on the July 12 reveal and testing of a composite bridge project at the University of Maine Advanced Structures and Composites Center. The event was a test of the bridge’s capacities, with a goal to load the bridge with up to 120,000 pounds without breaking it. Students and faculty in civil engineering designed and built the product. It’s intended to be constructed within 72 hours and last for 100 years with little to no maintenance, both increasing the efficiency of the process and reducing costs. “It’s made with a composite girder and a concrete deck on top of it. The composite girder weighs less than two tons on a large span which makes it very easy to build,” said Habib Dagher, executive director of the Composites Center. “We can put up to four two-lane bridges on one flatbed truck with this technology, and we only need a small crane to build the bridge.” The goal is to produce the bridges in Maine, which will create jobs, then sell them throughout the country. The Maine Edge carried a UMaine release about the project, and Composites Manufacturing magazine and Construction Equipment Guide adapted the release. Construction Dive and Global Construction Review also reported on the project.