ASCE          Structural Engineering Institute 

Equal Co-Sponsors:

             FHWA                    NSBA

Parsons Brinckerhoff

       Bayer Polymers    Buckland & Taylor

        Stirling Lloyd                        PND

Parsons

Transpo

Chair: 

  Alfred R. Mangus, P.E.

Vice-Chair:

  Craig Copelan, P.E.

Secretary:

  Robert W. Luscombe, P.E.

Caltrans Liaison:

  Lian Duan, Ph.D., P.E.

Committee Chairs:

Education:  Roman Wolchuk, P.E.

                    George Baker, P.E.

Invitation:  Ray McCabe, P.E.

Venue:  Vasant Mistry, P.E.

Publishing:  Gongkang Fu, Ph.D., P.E.

Organizing:  Norman Root, P.E.

Finance:  Richard Weitzenberg, P.E.

Publicity:  Natalie E. Calderone, P.E.

Technical:  Charles Seim, P.E.

Contact us

The goal of the Orthotropic Bridge Conference [ www.orthotropic-bridge.org] August 25-27, 2004 was to create a comprehensive range of opportunities to share ideas and issues about orthotropic bridges, and in every respect, the Orthotropic Bridge Conference was successful, with about 200 conference attendees glad that they made the trip.  During one evening after the day's proceedings, FHWA and ASCE held a "brainstorming" meeting to discuss a new Guide on Orthotropic Bridges.  Many design aids were written 40 years ago, and have not been updated.

ASCE National President, William Henry, flew down from Squim, Washington to help support the conference. A reception on Thursday evening was held for Mr. & Mrs. Henry, who also visited with other ASCE members on Friday.  All local ASCE members were invited to this free reception.

College students from California State University, Sacramento and the University of California, Davis, (who finished 5^th) displayed their entries [steel bridges] that were submitted to the 2004 National ASCE/NSBA Student Steel Bridge Contest.

HDR sponsored the Welcoming Breakfast on Wednesday morning, and other sponsors were: SEI of ASCE, Parsons, HNTB, FHWA, NSBA, Bayer Polymers, Stirling Lloyd, PND, Buckland & Taylor, Bridge Design & Engineering Magazine, Parsons Brinckerhoff, Profession Engineers in California Government, Transpo, Weidlinger Associated, ChemCO Systems, and Roman Wolchuk Consulting Engineers. 

There were 61 papers presented and approximately 200 people in attendance, with more than ten countries represented in a truly international event.  A few of the keynote speakers included:  Jim Rossberg, Director of SEI; M. Myint Lwin, Chief Bridge Engineer, FHWA, Washington, D.C.; Dr. John F. Fisher, Lehigh University; Peter Buckland, Buckland & Taylor, Ltd. of Canada; Charles Seim, Charles Seim Consulting Engineers of California; and Michel Virlogeux, Ingenieur Consultant of France.  Two well known engineers were featured on the Cover of the September 2004 issue of Civil Engineering Magazine: James E. Roberts of Imbsen  & Associates of California; and Dr. M. C. Tang of TY Lin International of California.

Monday and Tuesday (Aug 23 & 24) Mr. Roman Wolchuk of Jersey City, New Jersey led a seminar on "Design of Orthotropic Deck Bridges," and Sacramento Section Junior Director, Mr. Alfred R. Mangus, led a team of instructors to teach a course entitled, "Introduction to Orthotropic Bridges."  Both classes were well attended.

Saturday, after the three-day sessions of the conference, Sarah Picker led a full bus to tour the orthotropic bridges in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. This bus tour proved to be one of the highlights of the week, with explanations by key civil engineers at each bridge location, offering presentations not normally available. 

The week ended on Sunday with a full bus tour going up to see the Turtle Bay Museum exhibit, "Me, Myself & Infrastructure," an ASCE National Exhibit; and the Sundial Bridge in Redding, designed by Dr. Santiago Calatrava. Dennis Ryan, President of Shasta Branch, met the tour bus led by Alfred R. Mangus. Dennis facilitated a grant which funded the exhibit at this museum.

ASCE, Capital Branch of Sacramento is in the process of receiving the final papers from the speakers, and anticipates having CDs available of the proceedings by December 2004 for sale to others. Please contact the ASCE, Sacramento Section office at (916) 961-2723 for information about availability.

About the Conference Logo:

A cross section of the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge is the featured logo for this conference.  Construction was completed in 1967 at a cost of $70 million.  The bridge's smooth causeway design and arching elevated span are features that won it the ASCE's (American Society of Civil Engineers) OCEA (Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement) in 1968, and the American Institute of Steel Construction's award for the "Most Beautiful Long Span Bridge Opened to Traffic in 1967."

Between 1980 and 1993 the average daily traffic on the San Mateo Hayward Bridge increased from 42,000 to 72,000, a 70 percent increase.  This incredible increase can be attributed to the boom in industry and housing along the bay.  By the year 2010, it is projected that 95,000 vehicles will be crossing the bridge every day.  The original epoxy wearing surface is still on this orthotropic bridge.  For more information about this fabulous structure, see the web site at http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/esc/tollbridge/SM-Hay/SMfacts.html.