Susan N. Lane, Portland Cement Association and Henry G. Russell, Henry G. Russell, Inc.
Issue No. 1. Issue No. 67.
HPC Bridge Views was first published in 1999 as a four- or six- page bimonthly hard copy newsletter and was the first product of an agreement between the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the National Concrete Bridge Council (NCBC). It complemented the FHWA’s program to put high performance concrete (HPC) products, developed and evaluated under the Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP), into the hands of highway agencies and companies.
The initial articles reported on projects that were part of the FHWA national HPC bridge implementation program. Other articles reported on the activities of the AASHTO Lead States Team for HPC implementation. As more states began to use HPC, the scope of the articles increased to cover aspects of HPC that were important for a proper understanding of its application and successful implementation. HPC Bridge Views, therefore, became a valuable tool to disseminate information about the usage of concrete and to introduce new ideas and new technology to the bridge industry. Recent issues have contained articles about FHWA’s ongoing programs on lightweight concrete and ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC).
The readership of HPC Bridge Views covers all disciplines of bridge design and construction including owners, designers, contractors, material suppliers, and academics. Consequently, each issue presents a range of topics to interest a broad audience. Authors have also had the same range of backgrounds. As such, HPC Bridge Views provides a cross link between the various disciplines.
With the growth of the internet and subsequent electronic dissemination, the newsletter now has both national and international distribution. In fact, electronic readership has grown 68% since January 2009. Its distribution list includes the following:
- United States federal agencies including the Air Force; Army (and Army Corps of Engineers); Coast Guard; Defense Logistics Agency; Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Energy, Interior, and Transportation; FHWA; Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; Navy; and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
- 47 state departments of transportation plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico
- City governments in Alexandria (VA), Austin, Chicago, Cincinnati, Honolulu, Los Angeles, New York City, Oklahoma City, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Portland (OR), San Jose, Seattle, and West Palm Beach
- Major consulting engineering/architecture firms such as AECOM, Atkins (formerly PBS&J), Berger/ABAM, Buckland & Taylor, CH2M Hill, FIGG, Jacobs, Hardesty & Hanover, HDR, HNTB, Kimley-Horn, Michael Baker, Modjeski & Masters, Parsons Brinckerhoff, Parsons Corp., Stantec, T.Y. Lin, and URS
- 85 U.S. colleges and universities
- 54 U.S. contracting companies (general contractors)
- Concrete industry firms and organizations too numerous to count
- International governments including Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Cuba, Ecuador, England, India, Malaysia, Mauritius, New Zealand, Peru, and Russia
- 32 international colleges and universities
As an example of its value and reputation, articles published in HPC Bridge Views have also been published in whole or in part in the American Concrete Institute’s Concrete International, Concrete Producer magazine, Concrete Products magazine, Noticreto magazine (Colombia), Precast/ Prestressed Concrete Institute’s PCI Journal, and Singapore’s Concrete Technology Today magazine. A compilation of the first 38 issues was published in 2005 to coincide with the Seventh International Symposium on the Utilization of High Strength/High Performance Concrete held in Washington, DC. Copies were distributed to all attendees. HPC Bridge Views is also used frequently by the FHWA and member organizations of NCBC as a hand-out at trade shows and technical meetings.
A former State Bridge Engineer and member of the HPC Bridge Views’ Editorial Board wrote: “I have always viewed HPC Bridge Views as a newsletter that reaches designers and materials, maintenance, and construction professionals involved in high performance concrete bridge solutions. The newsletter offers high value for a small investment. . . . This cross cutting approach has even drawn pavement and maintenance engineers to look for innovative new technologies . . . These short articles . . . have a broad readership and bridge professionals at all levels of their careers have a set of resources to gain comfort with new solutions. As information gets dated and new technologies mature, this federal- and industry-funded non-biased resource provides a valuable channel to disseminate the information.”
As this newsletter moves forward, we are ready to tackle an expanded scope of concrete bridge longevity, preservation, and innovation. Articles on concrete bridge durability, preservation strategies, new efficient beam shapes, accelerated bridge construction, non-destructive evaluation of bridges, designing for multi-hazard events, new types of reinforcement, how to achieve over 100-year service life, and upcoming materials like UHPC will be featured. It will also change its name to become Concrete Bridge Views. This new name and scope will draw from its roots and extend the concepts of safer and longer-lasting concrete bridges nationwide and even worldwide
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