Short Span Steel Bridges 
Infrastructure Week 2024 Recording: Preservation of Steel Bridges
United for Infrastructure: A Week to Champion America’s Infrastructure was held May 13-17, 2024. In its twelfth year and formerly known as Infrastructure Week, participating organizations host events to build awareness of and educate policymakers and citizens about the infrastructure challenges in the United States.
As participants, the Short Span Steel Bridge Alliance (SSSBA), the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) and the American Galvanizers Association (AGA) partnered to host a webinar on May 15, 2024 that highlighted the most common ways to preserve steel bridge infrastructure.
Overview
Steel Bridge Preservation: Build to Last webinar provided an overview on steel bridge durability and identifies the most effective ways to prevent corrosion. Seminar Content included an overview of coating systems, hot-dip galvanizing, metallizing (thermal-spray zinc), weathering steel, and duplex systems as well as the benefits of each system, specifying these systems, and common surface preparation methods being utilized to apply these systems.
Recorded Lecture
The recorded webinar is now available to view on-demand (professional development hours are not included for viewing the recorded session).
Lecture: Steel Bridge Preservation: Build to Last Webinar
John Krzywicki (email), Marketing Director, American Galvanizers Association
Download slide deck by clicking here.
Summary:
This seminar was designed to help specifiers and owners:
- Understand the options they have to mitigate corrosion
- Target 100-year design life
- Identify the benefits of utilizing these methods
- Recognize which method makes sense for their application
- Identify clear assignments of responsibility for a successful project
Does steel provide a sustainable option for bridges?
Steel is the most recycled material on the planet. Some of the sustainable advantages of steel include:
- Steel from a disassembled bridge can be used again for another project.
- Steel bridges can last 100 years or more, with minimal maintenance over their long service lives.
- The high strength of steel permits longer spans, which minimizes disruption to underlying habitats.
- Steel is highly resistant to extreme natural disasters such as earthquakes.
- The American steel industry has achieved a 31 percent reduction in energy intensity and a 36 percent reduction in greenhouse gas intensity since 1990.
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News
President Biden’s Administration Highlights Progress in Investing in Infrastructure
In 2021, Congress passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The administration recently released a report highlighting the progress.