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12 • AUGUST 2009 • ROADS & BRIDGES www.ROADSBRIDGES.com
T H E N E W SS PA N N I N G
BY ALLEN ZEYHERManaging Editor
Danger built inDefi cient roadways a major cause of highway
fatalities
Defi cient roadway conditions contribute to more than half of
U.S. highway fatalities and 38% of nonfatal injuries, according to
a recent study. The roadway environment is a substantially more
lethal factor in highway fatalities than drunken driving, speeding
or failing to use safety belts.
In revealing that defi ciencies in the roadway envi-ronment
contribute to more than 22,000 fatalities and cost the nation more
than $217 billion annu-ally, the Pacifi c Institute for Research
and Evalu-ation (PIRE) concluded that making the roadway
environment more protective and forgiving is essential to reducing
highway fatalities and costs. The study was sponsored by the
Transportation Construction Coalition.
The driving environment is very unforgiving, principal study
author Ted Miller, Ph.D., said in a conference call to announce the
report. Miller is an internationally recognized safety econo-
mist in the areas of injury incidence, costs and
consequences.
“Drivers often make minor errors. They speed. They get
distracted. They drive drowsy,” Miller said. “When the roadway is
defi cient, those errors are more likely to cause a crash, and
crashes that occur are more likely to result in serious injury or
in death.
“The next surface transportation bill needs a strong focus on
improving the safety built into the roads and bridges. That bill
should be funded now, not 18 months from now. Every day we wait,
people die.”
Titled “On a Crash Course: The Dangers and Health Costs of Defi
cient Roadways,” the study found the $217 billion cost of defi
cient roadway conditions dwarfs the costs of other safety fac-tors,
including $130 billion for alcohol, $97 billion for speeding or $60
billion for failing to wear a
safety belt.Jared Goldberg, M.D., an
emergency-room doctor at Inova Alexandria Hospital in
Alex-andria, Va., described motor-vehicle crashes as an epidemic
that does not get the same attention as other public health
problems.
“Improving our existing roadways could help prevent many drivers
from ever having to become my patients,” Gold-berg said during the
conference call. “For the victims who do end up in my emergency
room, roadway improvements could help determine whether my
col-leagues and I can help to save that person’s life or merely
save their organs.”
Dr. Miller said the top three causes of death and injury in the
road environment are large trees, poles that do not break away and
bridges, and he said
Spanning the Views
I-40 IN DOWNTOWN KNOXVILLE HAS REOPENED 18 days early after
being closed for 14 months for widening and related work. State and
local leaders pressed a large, red button to make the reopening
offi cial on June 12 as a procession of Knoxville residents rounded
a hill and became the fi rst to drive on the new highway. The work
on I-40 included widening to six through lanes and four auxiliary
lanes and construction or rehabilitation of 13 bridges, 15
retaining walls and three noise walls. Twelve side roads and seven
new ramps also were constructed. The project was executed under
Tennessee’s SmartFIX40 accelerated construction process, which
involved completely closing the interstate and working around the
clock.
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14 • AUGUST 2009 • ROADS & BRIDGES www.ROADSBRIDGES.com
often these are components of old roads that were built to
outdated designs and have not been updated.
“Those three events alone are involved in 43% of all road deaths
and more than 35% of all moderate and serious injuries,” Miller
said.
Replacing unforgiving poles with breakaway poles was one of the
report’s recommended solutions to road defi ciencies, along with
using
brighter and more durable pave-ment markings, adding rumble
strips to shoulders, mounting more guardrails or safety barriers
and installing better signs with easier-to-read legends.
The report also recommended more signifi cant road improvements,
including adding or widening shoul-ders, improving road alignments,
replacing or widening narrow
bridges, reducing pavement edges and abrupt drop-offs and
clearing more space alongside roads.
The report also analyzed crash costs on a state-by-state basis.
The 10 states with the highest total cost from crashes involving
defi cient road conditions are (alphabeti-cally) Alabama,
California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, New York, North Carolina,
Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Texas.
The states with the highest road-related crash costs per million
vehicle-miles of travel are Alabama,
Agency NewsGregory G. Nadeau joined the Federal Highway
Administration as deputy adminis-trator on July 8.
Association NewsThe Roadway Infrastructure Safety Coalition
(RISC), Washington, D.C., recently welcomed the National
Association of Development Organizations (NADO) to its coalition as
its newest member. RISC was created to work to reduce deaths on
America’s roadways by improving roadway safety infrastructure.
Contractor NewsSukut Construction Inc., Santa Ana, Calif., in
joint venture with Flatiron West Inc. of San Marcos, has been
awarded a $57 million contract by Caltrans to construct the fi nal
segment of Calif. Rte. 905 in San Diego County. Work is scheduled
to be completed in early 2011.
Engineering NewsDonald A. Logan, CPE, has joined
Philadelphia-based Urban Engineers Inc. as a senior estimator.
Stephen Ehrlich, P.E., LEEDAP, has been promoted to vice president
at Urban Engineers. Richard C. Simon, CMQ/OE, CQA, has been
promoted to vice president at Urban Engineers of New York P.C.
At Skelly and Loy, Harrisburg, Pa., Joshua L. Weiand, E.I.T.,
has joined the staff as an environmental engineer; Kevin J.
Starner, CEP, has earned the professional designation of certifi ed
environmental professional (CEP); Sandra K. Basehore and Gerald W.
Longenecker, P.E., have been named to the board of directors; and
Terry W. Schmidt, P.E., has been made an associate of the fi
rm.
HIGHWAY NAMES IN THE NEWS
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Work Area Protection CorporationA Division of Stabler Companies
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Smart Cushion Innovations™ –the world’s only variable-force
crash attenuator. More and more transportation departments are
discovering the benefi ts of SCI Products. This patented,
speed-dependent attenuator varies stopping force, resulting
ramping up forces for heavier and faster-moving vehicles.
Designed for maximum safety, durability and reusability, SCI
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ROADS & BRIDGES • AUGUST 2009 • 15
Arkansas, Hawaii, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, South
Caro-lina, Tennessee and West Virginia.
The highest road-related crash costs per mile of road are in the
states of California, Connecticut, the District of Columbia,
Florida, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and
South Carolina.
The PIRE study analyzed sev-eral crash databases, including the
Fatality Analysis Reporting System, compiled by the federal
government.
Traffi c ManagementTTI: Congestion dippedin 2007, but it won’t
last
Even before the U.S. economy offi cially entered the current
reces-sion in December 2007, drivers had started cutting back
slightly on their driving, presumably because of the increase in
the price of gaso-line. The dip in mileage showed up in the data
from the 2009 “Urban
Mobility Report,” released on July 8 by the Texas Transportation
Insti-tute (TTI).
The report compiles fi gures on traffi c congestion in 2007 in
439 U.S. urban areas. Congestion caused urban Americans to waste
4.16 bil-lion hours of their time and 2.81 bil-lion gallons of fuel
at a total cost of $87.2 billion. There was a decrease of 40
million wasted hours and 40 mil-
Walid Hatoum has joined PBS&J International Inc., Orlando,
Fla., as president.
Ron Johnson has joined Solar Technology Inc., Allentown, Pa., as
vice president of sales and marketing.
Kurus Elavia has received the Ernst & Young LLP Entrepreneur
of the Year 2009 Award in the government and security services
category in New Jersey. Elavia is CEO of Gateway Group One, Newark,
N.J.
Cecilia Green, national service director for environmental
sciences at PBS&J, has been appointed to the foundation board
of the Women’s Transportation Seminar (WTS), Washington, D.C.
Michael E. Wilder, P.E., has been named energy and environmental
specialist at Mactec, Atlanta.
Manufacturing NewsTransoft Solutions Inc., Vancouver, B.C., a
developer of software for engineering and architecture, has
launched a corporate blog, titled “Ahead of the Curve,” at www
.transoftsolutions.typepad.com.
Hilti Corp., Schaan, Liechtenstein, is entering the North
American professional diamond service contractor market with the
purchase of U.S.-based Diamond B Inc.
CONTECH Construction Products Inc., West Chester, Ohio, has
acquired certain assets of the Plateau Pipe Co., headquartered in
Cookeville, Tenn. CONTECH also has acquired the Thompson Culvert
Co., headquartered in Missouri with facilities in St. Louis,
Sikeston and Springfi eld, Mo.
Manitowoc has added Latin America to Ingo Schiller’s
responsibilities as vice president of sales and marketing for the
Americas on behalf of Manitowoc Cranes, Manitowoc, Wis.
HIGHWAY NAMES IN THE NEWS
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are either registered or unregistered trademarks or service marks
of Bentley Systems, Incorporated or one of its direct or indirect
wholly-owned subsidiaries. Other brands and product names are
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16 • AUGUST 2009 • ROADS & BRIDGES www.ROADSBRIDGES.com
lion wasted gallons but an increase of over $100 million in
delay cost from 2006 because of an increase in the cost of fuel and
truck delay.
“Small traffi c-volume declines brought on by increases in fuel
prices in the last half of 2007,” TTI said, “caused a small
reduction in congestion compared with 2006.”
In fact, 2007 was the only year in which wasted time and
fuel
decreased in the 25 years that TTI has been compiling data. In
that 25-year period, annual delay time for the average peak-period
traveler has gone from 13.8 hours in 1982 to 27.4 hours in 1992, 35
hours in 2002 and fi nally 36.1 hours in 2007, the equivalent of
almost a full week of vacation. The average peak-period traveler
wasted 24 gal of fuel in 2007, up from 9 gal in 1982 and 21
gal in 1997.TTI looked at past regional reces-
sions to see if there were any lessons: “In every case, when the
economy rebounded, so did the congestion problem.”
If the economy and congestion continue their upward trend after
the current recession is over, trips will take longer; congestion
will stretch into more of the day; congestion will creep into
weekend travel; and travel times will be more unreliable.
Congestion keeps expanding from its traditional home in the big
cities into the surrounding regions and even rural areas. By 2020,
cities with 500,000 to 1 million people will be as congested as
cities of 1 million to 3 million people are today, said TTI.
The cities with the worst con-gestion, in terms of annual delay
per traveler, are Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, Washington,
D.C., Atlanta, Houston and San Francisco-Oakland.
TTI lists a variety of measures to reduce congestion and
recommends a strategy of “more of everything. It is clear that our
current investment levels have not kept pace with the problems.
Population growth will require more systems, better opera-tions and
an increased number of travel alternatives.”
Congestion mitigation measures include:
Improve effi ciency, such as quick • clearance of incidents,
timing of traffi c signals so more vehicles see green lights,
imposing road and intersection designs or adding a short section of
roadway;Increase capacity, such as more • road lanes, new streets
and high-ways, new or expanded public-transportation facilities and
larger bus and rail fl eets;Change usage patterns to avoid •
traveling in the traditional rush hours, such as fl exible work
hours;Provide more choices of routes, • travel modes or lanes that
involve a toll for high-speed and reliable service;
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ROADS & BRIDGES • AUGUST 2009 • 17
Diversify development patterns, • typically involving denser
devel-opments with a mix of jobs, shops and homes, so that more
people can walk, bike or take transit to more, and closer,
destinations; and Have realistic expectations. Large • urban areas
will be congested. Some locations near key activity centers in
smaller urban areas also will be congested. But conges-tion does
not have to be an all-day event. Identifying solutions and funding
sources that meet a variety of community goals is challenging
enough without attempting to eliminate congestion in all loca-tions
at all times.
The full report is available at http://mobility.tamu.edu.
CementConsumption dips despite global stimulus
World cement consumption is expected to decline 1.7% in 2009, a
modest drop that is cushioned by a roughly 4% growth in utilization
by China and India, according to a recent report by the Portland
Cement Association (PCA), Skokie, Ill.
Gains in China and India, which together account for 58% of the
world’s cement consumption, will mask the harsh downturns predicted
for many of the world’s cement mar-kets. Among developing
economies, consumption is expected to decline nearly 16% during
2009.
Although world governments are engaged in massive stimulus
pro-grams, early projects most likely will be low in cement
intensities. Jobs such as bridge work, which has higher cement
intensities but longer design times, will materialize full force in
2010, when worldwide cement consumption will yield a 3.7% gain.
“The magnitude of the global eco-nomic stimulus programs
currently under way is unprecedented,” Ed Sullivan, PCA chief
economist, said. “This is concentrated, however, in developed
countries. Emerging economies, with the exception of
China and India, are expected to lag one year behind.”
Sullivan predicts continued world-wide growth rates of 7.7% and
6.9% in 2011 and 2012, respectively.
Air QualityMoDOT to install unitsto cut diesel emissions
The Missouri departments of Trans-portation and Natural
Resources are joining forces to improve air quality and public
health in the state’s met-ropolitan areas.
The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has received a
$726,227 grant through the Diesel Emission Reduction Act. The grant
will help pay for MoDOT to retrofi t a portion of its fl eet with
new tech-nologies that will reduce the pollut-ants that lead to
air-quality compli-ance issues.
These efforts will reduce diesel emissions from MoDOT fl eets in
St. Louis, Kansas City and Springfi eld
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18 • AUGUST 2009 • ROADS & BRIDGES www.ROADSBRIDGES.com
by approximately 288 tons per year, or about enough to fi ll 427
Goodyear blimps.
The upgrades also will have an added bonus of increasing the fl
eet’s fuel effi ciency.
“Our agency is pleased to work with MoDOT in this important
endeavor,” said Department of Natural Resources Director Mark
Templeton. “It is our hope this project sets an example nationwide
and promotes the development of much larger-scale projects in the
future. Improving air quality is an important mission of this
agency, and we diligently work to achieve air-quality standards
that are protective of public health and the environment.”
The DNR will administer the grant over the next two years by
reimbursing MoDOT for some of the costs to install emission-control
devices or idle-reduction tech-nology in dozens of fl eet
equipment, upgrade engines in 17 dump trucks and replace fi ve dump
trucks earlier than scheduled with models that meet current
Environ-mental Protection Agency standards. In all, this grant will
involve 135 pieces of diesel equipment in the St. Louis, Kansas
City and Springfi eld districts.
“As we manage our transportation system, we are very
conscientious about how our diesel engines affect air quality,”
said MoDOT Director Pete Rahn. “That’s why MoDOT researches and
adopts new technologies
that will allow us to better protect the environment and improve
the air we breathe.”
AwardsNominations wanted
The Portland Cement Association (PCA) is seeking nominations for
its 12th biennial Bridge Awards Com-petition. The program,
co-sponsored by ROADS & BRIDGES magazine, recognizes excellence
in design and con-struction of concrete bridges.
All types of bridges—highway, railway, pedestrian—in which the
basic structural system is concrete are eli-gible. Entries are
encouraged for cast-in-place or precast concrete bridges with
short, medium or long spans. Newly constructed, reconstructed or
widened structures qualify for the competition.
Submitted bridges will be judged by a jury of distin-guished
professionals, including representatives from the Federal Highway
Administration and a state depart-ment of transportation. The
winning projects will be announced at the 2010 Concrete Bridge
Conference, Feb. 24-26, in Phoenix.
Public and private organizations may submit as many bridges as
desired. Eligible structures for the 2010 com-petition must have
been essentially completed between April 2008 and September 2009
and must be located
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ROADS & BRIDGES • AUGUST 2009 • 19
within the U.S. or Canada.Entries are due Sept. 4, 2009.Entry
forms are available at www.cement.org/bridges.
For more information, contact Sue Lane at PCA, 202/408-9494;
e-mail: [email protected].
Military PavingCamp Lejeune roadsto reduce congestion
Mactec Engineering and Consulting Inc., Alpharetta, Ga., has
been awarded a $13 million fi rm fi xed-price architect and
engineering contract for design of a new base entry point at the
Marine Corps Base at Camp Lejeune, N.C. The project is a joint
venture with Raleigh, N.C.-based Rummel, Klepper & Kahl LLP.
The pro-posed entry point will help mitigate traffi c congestion
resulting from the recent “Grow the Force Initiatives” at Camp
Lejeune. The design includes 6.5 miles of new four-lane roadway,
three major interchanges and three major bridges.
CorrectionIn the Product & Equipment Market last month,
we
misstated one of the features of the Precision Solar Controls
Speed Awareness Monitor II (“Speed mon-itor,” July 2009, p 55). It
should have read, “A 4D
deep-cycle battery provides more than 18 days of con-tinuous
operation.”
We regret the error and apologize for any confusion it
caused.
—edited by Allen Zeyher
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