IRF@
www.irfnet.org
Better roads,
better world
WEB agrees restructuring and launches a
new IRF to better serve the road community
IRF Brussels
Avenue Louise, 113
B-1050 – Brussels
Belgium
Tel : + 32 2 644 58 77
Fax : + 32 2 647 59 34
[email protected]
_____________________
IRF Geneva
Chemin de Blandonnet,2
CH-1214 – Vernier-Geneva
Switzerland
Tel : +41 22 306 0260
Fax : +41 22 306 0270
[email protected]
_____________________
IRF Washington
Madison Place
500 Montgomery Street,
5th Floor
Alexandria, VA 22314, USA
Tel: +1 703 535 1001
Fax: +1 703 535 1007
[email protected]
IRF was founded in 1948 to
encourage better road and
transportation systems worldwide.
IRF is a non-profit, non-political
service organisation which helps in
the application of technology and
management practices to produce
the maximum economical and
social return from national road
investments. Some 500
he World Executive Board
(WEB) of the International
Road Federation (IRF),
meeting on 3 April in
Amsterdam, the Netherlands,
endorsed a new global structure
which will better serve members
and the wider road community, and
reaffirm the IRF's role as the
leading road organisation of
reference.
Since its creation in 1948, the
IRF has been instrumental in
coordinating the views of the road
sector and promoting better road
infrastructure worldwide. Now,
under a new global structure,
which pulls together the resources
of its three programme centres,
including the recently incorporated
European Union Road Federation
(ERF), the IRF strengthens this role
as it reaffirms its
T
International
Road Federation
Manfred Swarovski
mission to further the development
of safe, efficient, affordable and
environmentally sustainable road
networks.
Manfred Swarovski, IRF
Chairman, said that "with over 300
members spread across 90
countries, the IRF is the only global
platform representing the full
spectrum of players involved in
road planning, development,
construction, management and
usage, meaning the IRF is the voice
of the international road."
Acting as a unified organisation,
with an output-driven agenda and
established links with institutions
worldwide, the IRF will offer
greater support to the global road
community by providing enhanced
advocacy, networking, training and
research services. The IRF's three
strategically located programme
centres are in Geneva, Switzerland
(headquarters); Washington DC,
USA, and now Brussels, Belgium,
and will ensure worldwide
diffusion of the IRF message
that better roads lead to a
better world ■
governments, companies and
associations around the world are
members of IRF and provide
financial support to the dual offices
in Washington, DC and Geneva,
Switzerland. National and regional
road associations around the world
make up the Federation. IRF is an
accredited transportation consultant
to the United Nations, the Council
of Europe, and the Organisation of
American States, and works closely
with other international institutions
in the transportation field.
22
World Highways
June 2006
“
With over 300 members
spread across 90
countries, the IRF is
the only global platform
representing the full
spectrum of players...
...meaning the IRF
is the voice of the
international road
”
www.worldhighways.com
@IRF
www.irfnet.org
Former Chinese Communications
Minister named IRF Man of the Year
hang Chunxian, who held
the position of Chinese
Minister of Communications
from 2002 until December 2005,
has been honoured with the IRF
Man of the Year award, in
recognition of his leadership during
a period of significant investment
in the development of China's road
network.
China has undergone an
unprecedented level of road
development in recent years.
Achievements in highway
development during Zhang's time
as minister include the
construction of 25,000km of
expressways and 49,000km of
highways built in the year 2005
alone, taking China's total road
network to 1.92 million km.
Under Zhang's leadership,
efforts have also been made to
support social and economic
development and improve living
conditions in China's vast rural
regions. Since 2003 a drive for
rural road development has seen
300,000km of asphalt or concrete
roads constructed or repaved in
rural areas.
Zhang, who now serves as
Secretary of the Hunan Provincial
Party Committee, was unable to
collect the award, which was
presented by IRF Chairman,
Manfred Swarovski during the
Z
Zhang Chunxian
opening ceremony of Intertraffic
Amsterdam in April. Collecting the
award on his behalf, Zhang Jianfei,
Director of Highways, MOC, read a
letter of acceptance from the
former Minister. In his letter Mr
Zhang thanked the IRF for its
recognition and accepted the
award on behalf of the wider
Chinese highway community,
saying: "I consider that this award
not only belongs to me, but more,
to the entire highway community in
China, as well as each and every
one who contributed to the road
development in China."
During Zhang's time as Minister,
the MOC established a strong
relationship with the IRF, notably as
hosts of the 3rd IRF International
Silk Road Conference in Xi'an in
October 2004 ■
IRF and IGC TRACECA to enhance cooperation on road transport
The IRF and the Intergovernmental
Commission TRACECA (Transport
Corridor Europe, Caucasus, Asia) signed
a Memorandum of Understanding on 3
May in Sofia, Bulgaria, establishing
closer cooperation between the two
organisations in the field of road
development.
The MoU outlines a number of
areas in which the two organisations
will cooperate in order to favour the
development of appropriate road
networks in the Black Sea, Caucasus
and central Asian regions, notably
through the development of transport
corridors, technology transfer and
information sharing, and the development
and promotion of technical standards
and effective operational practices with
regards to road infrastructure.
IGC TRACECA was established in
1998, bringing together representatives of the governments of Azerbaijan,
Armenia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Kazakhstan,
the Krgyz Republic, Moldova, Romania,
Tajikistan, Turkey, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.
Based around the provisions of a
multilateral agreement on international
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Lyudmila Trenkova, Secretary General of IGC TRACECA and Tony Pearce,
IRF Geneva Director General signed the memorandum of understanding
on behalf of their respective organisations
transport for development of the
Europe-Caucasus-Asia corridor, IGC
TRACECA aims to promote the
harmonious development of transport
infrastructure, foster cooperation
between transport companies and
institutions and simplify customs and
border crossing procedures.
Tony Pearce, IRF Geneva Director
General, who signed the MoU on
behalf of the IRF, said he envisaged a
number of synergies through the
cooperation of the two organisations.
"IGC TRACECA as an established
body since 1998 shows the political
will to cooperate on transport issues in
the Caucasus-central Asian region. The
IRF, as a vast network of road sector
experts, can bring its technical
expertise to the region to help
TRACECA achieve its goals."
Further to increased cooperation
and information sharing, the MoU also
envisages the possibility for the two
organisations to jointly undertake
projects on matters of mutual interest,
particularly those aimed at institutional
capacity building, organising
workshops and producing studies.
The IRF, which already has
established programmes focusing on
the development of road networks in
south east Europe and central Asia, is
interested in establishing a similar
initiative for the Black Sea region,
where transport infrastructure must be
developed to support the region's
economic growth.
June 2006
World Highways
23
IRF@
www.irfnet.org
IRF announces 2006 Executive Seminar on Contract Maintenance
The IRF has announced the 2006
schedule for its annual Executive
Seminar on Contract Maintenance.
This year's seminar will be held from
15-25 October in Orlando, Florida, US.
Now in its 11th year, this seminar
continues the long tradition of
providing information and technology
transfer to transportation agencies
around the world.
This year's seminar will focus on
strategies for funding a contract
maintenance programme as well as
lessons learned from programmes
already under way throughout the
world. Experts in the fields of
maintenance planning, financing and
programme development have been
scheduled to present the latest
information concerning existing and
future programme initiatives.
The seminar's five-day program of
presentations and discussions about
contract maintenance will include
sessions on:
● financing maintenance operations
n the 1930s, a group of HNTB
Corporation engineers gathered
at a bend in the Mississippi River
to design a through-truss bridge
that would carry U.S. 82 and U.S.
278 highways across America's
second-largest river. Linking
Greenville, Mississsippi, and Lake
Village, Arkansas, the Benjamin G.
Humphreys Bridge opened in
September 1940 as a marvelled
structure.
Sixty years later, a second
generation of HNTB engineers has
returned to the river to design the
Humphreys' replacement about
800m downstream. Once the new
U.S. 82 Bridge opens in 2008, the
Humphreys Bridge will be torn
down. With it will go a relatively
recent history of dangerous
navigation for both vehicles and
barges.
While structurally sound (and
still open to traffic) the Humphreys
Bridge has become obsolete. The
shoulderless, two-lane structure
bears an increasing traffic load,
about 7,500 vehicles a day. It no
longer meets the American
Association of State Highway and
Transportation Officials (AASHTO)
guidelines for roadway geometrics.
And this bridge holds the dubious
distinction of being the most struck
bridge over the river, sustaining
more than 40 barge collisions since
the mid-1970s.
Planning for the new U.S. 82
Bridge began in the early 1990s
with HNTB completing its design in
2001. Construction started in 2001
when federal funds became
available. A significant
contribution to America's
infrastructure, the bridge's 783m
navigation unit will be the longest
cable-stayed bridge on the
Mississippi River, and the third
largest cable-stayed bridge in
North America.
The bridge is being built by a
joint venture of Massman
Construction Company of Kansas
City, Misssouri, and Traylor
Brothers of Evansville, Indiana.
● maintenance management
● innovative maintenance techniques
● contractor performance evaluation
● sustainability
Following the five days of seminar
sessions there will be three days of
field trips that include visits to
facilities under contract maintenance,
local government agencies, contractor
operations and other points of
interest.
The technical coordinator for the
seminar is IRF member Roy
Jorgensen Associates, Inc. The IRF
and Roy Jorgensen have been
providing technical training on
contract maintenance and several
other road-related topics for 13 years.
To register for the Seminar, please
download the brochure and
registration form at www.irfnet.org
and fax the completed form to
Barbara Samsell at +1 301 874 2876.
Barbara can also be reached by email at
[email protected].
I
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World Highways
June 2006
Longest cable-stayed span
on Mississippi takes shape
IRF Member Steve Hague of HNTB Corporation explains
some of the challenges involved in designing and building
the Mississippi's longest cable-stayed bridge
Construction challenges
Building a structure that could live
up to the durability of the
Humphreys presented many
challenges for both designers and
contractors alike. The first was the
river itself.
The mighty Mississippi
The lower Mississippi River can be
especially tricky for bridge
engineers and builders. Its depth
can fluctuate from 20 to 40m in
any given year. To counter that
variable, HNTB chose a foundation
method proven to withstand the
river's raw power, as well as its
ebb and flow. Caissons provided
the stability, bearing capacity and
protection against scour the new
bridge required.
First applied to the Brooklyn
Bridge in the late 1800s, caissons
still stand as a very sound method
for constructing bridges in this
reach of the Mississippi River. In
fact, they have been used for every
span along the muddy Mississippi
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@IRF
www.irfnet.org
from Cape Girardeau, Missouri to
New Orleans.
In the case of the U.S. 82 Bridge,
the project team chose to build
'floating' caissons because of the
variable water depth. This meant
keeping each structure afloat until
it was tall enough to rest on the
river floor and extend above the
water's surface. Once each caisson
was situated firmly on the river
bottom, the contractor excavated
material from inside, sinking each
one to its final bearing elevation
38m below the mud line.
massive caissons underneath the
bridge are the graceful cable stays,
which fan out from both 114m tall
towers. The individually greased
and sheathed steel strands of the
stays were installed and stressed
one by one, minimising the size of
equipment required to place and
jack the cables.
Cable-stayed bridges have many
advantages. They are selfsupporting during construction,
relatively easy to build and very
efficient in the way the load is
transferred from the superstructure
to the ground.
River traffic
The Mississippi River is a major
shipping lane. In a 24-hour period,
25 or more barge tows could pass
through the construction site, each
a potential collision with the
existing bridge.
To reduce that risk, the
contractor met the Coast Guard,
which agreed to restrict river traffic
to one barge up or downstream at
a time. That way, no tow would be
overtaking or passing another
within the construction site. The
restricted zone extends about 3km
up and down river from the new
bridge.
Cantilever design
The bridge's superstructure was
erected using the balanced
cantilever technique. Here,
hundreds of tonnes of steel and
concrete reach out from opposing
towers and meet at the centre of
the span.
The main span closure,
achieved in April, represents a
magnificent feat of engineering.
Keeping the bridge superstructure
on the proper heading was the task
of surveyors, who monitored the
A safer route
bridge's position in space and
compared its actual location to
planned design coordinates. Their
readings were accurate to within a
fraction of an inch. To ensure that
accuracy, surveyors took daily
readings before sunrise or before
the sun's heat could cause the steel
to expand.
The day the final piece of the
main span was to be set, the
outside temperature had to be
15°C. However, the thermometer
never dipped below 21°C. As a
result, placement of the closing
span had to be delayed two days
before Mother Nature cooperated.
A cable-stayed bridge
One of the unique aspects of the
U.S. 82 span is how it blends 125year-old techniques with state-ofthe-art technology. Countering the
When the $220 million bridge
opens, the four 3.6m lanes will
accommodate more than twice the
number of vehicles the Humphreys
does. Those motorists will be
buffered by two 3.6m shoulders
and two 2.4m shoulders, bringing
the total width of the bridge to
30m, three times that of the
Humphreys. Finally, the bridge will
provide a navigation opening of
420m, nearly twice that of the
original bridge, significantly
reducing the possibility of barge
collisions ■
● Steve Hague is associate vice
president/chief structural engineer,
Bridge Group, at HNTB Corporation
and is the project design engineer for
the U.S. 82 Bridge. During his 22year career with HNTB, Hague has
been the designer for four cablestayed bridges in the United States,
including the Bill Emerson Memorial
Bridge at Cape Girardeau, Misssouri,
and the Great River Bridge near
McGehee, Arkansas. He can be
reached at +1 816 527 2207 or
[email protected].
U.S. Interstate Highway System fast facts
In 2006, the 73,600km Interstate Highway
System - one of the greatest American
achievements of the 20th century - turns
50. The IRF's national road association
in the United States, the American Road
& Transportation Builders Association
(ARTBA), provides some little-known
'fast facts' about the Interstates:
● Construction of the Interstates was
the largest earth moving project in the
history of the world. More than 32
billion m³ of earth was moved. In
comparison, "only" 276 million m³ was
moved during construction of the
Panama Canal. The concrete used to
construct the Interstate System could
build a 2.74m thick and 15.25m high
wall around the world's equator.
● The Interstates comprise less than
1% of roads in the US, but they carry
more than 24% of travel, including
41% of total truck miles travelled.
● If every man, woman and child in
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California, New York, Texas and New
Jersey took a trip to the moon, it would
be the same mileage that has been
travelled on the Interstates.
● Texas has the most Interstate
mileage of any state, with 3,233.45
miles (5,202.6km). New York has the
largest number of routes, 29.
Routes:
● The nation's capital and 45 of the
state capitals are connected by the
Interstate System. Capitals not
connected are Dover, Delaware;
Jefferson City, Missouri; Carson City,
Nevada; Pierre, South Dakota, and
Juneau, Alaska.
● There are 62 routes on the Interstate
System. Of these, only three are
transcontinental highways, running
from coast-to-coast (I-10, I-80, I-90).
Seven Interstate routes connect
Canada and Mexico.
● The longest Interstate route is I-90.
It stretches 3,020.54 miles (about
4,860km) from Seattle, Washington
State, to Boston, Massachusetts. The
shortest is I-73, which spans 12.27
miles (19.74km) in North Carolina.
● I-95 was the most expensive route,
costing $8 billion. It goes through the
largest number of states, 16.
Bridges:
● Nearly 25% of the 54,663 bridges
on the Interstate System were built
from 1965-1969.
● The highest elevation (more than
11,000 feet/about 17,700m) on the
Interstate System is in a tunnel, the
Eisenhower Memorial in Colorado. It is
also the longest bored tunnel on the
Interstate System at 7,789 feet (2,374m).
Myths:
● One in five miles (8km) of the
Interstate had to be straight enough to
use as an airstrip. False! Although it
was discussed many times that the
Interstates could be used as emergency
airstrips, there is not, nor has there
ever been any sort of regulation
mandating that the roads meet standards
so they can be used as airstrips.
● I-76 in the Philadelphia area was
given its number as part of the 1976
bi-centennial celebration of the
Declaration of Independence. False!
I-76 just happened to fall in the right
place numerically to pretend to have
historical significance.
See also US Interstate feature
in this issue
June 2006
World Highways
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