County engineers, state and local Department of Transportation (DOT) officials, owners and other bridge design professionals have some great educational opportunities coming up this fall to learn about the time and cost efficiencies to be gained from using steel for short span bridge design and construction. They include:

Western Bridge Engineers Seminar | September 6-8, 2017 | Portland, OR
Wednesday, September 6, Poster Session, 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm – Joel Hahm, P.E., Senior Engineer, Big R Bridge, will answer questions on the inspection and maintenance of galvanized steel buried bridges.

Friday, September 8, Technical Session, 8:30 am to 10:00 am – Joel Hahm, P.E., will conduct a technical session titled: “I Didn’t Know it Would be That Fast! ABC Advancements and Advantages With Buried Bridges.” Steel buried bridges provide design and construction efficiencies, are economical, and should be considered with any other bridge design options.

Photo by Big R Bridge

2017 Structural Engineers Association of Ohio Annual Conference | September 7-8, 2017 | Columbus, OH
Thursday, September 7, Technical Session, 8:00 am to 9:15 am – Karl Barth, Ph.D., P.E., Samples Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at West Virginia University, will discuss the benefits of the innovative press-brake-formed steel tub girder (PBTG) technology. Karl was part of the industry group that developed and tested the technology. There are currently two PBTG bridges in service in the U.S., and many more are expected to be built as bridge design professionals learn about their time, cost and construction benefits.

“Ohio’s Muskingum County Bridge Replacement With SPS Deck on Press-Brake-Formed Steel Tub Girders” Webinar | Thursday, September 21, 2017 | 1:00 pm ET
Douglas Davis, P.E., Muskingum County Engineer; Dave Cox, Maico Industries, Inc.; and Rolando Moreau, Intelligent Engineering present a webinar on this innovative technology and the new Cannelville Road Bridge. The webinar is hosted by the Accelerated Bridge Construction University Transportation Center at Florida International University.

Association of Conservation Engineers (ACE) 56th Annual Conference | October 15 – 19, 2017 | Ogden, UT
Monday, October 16, 9:45 am to 10:30 am – Joel Hahm, P.E., and Holly Bentz, P.E., U.S. Forest Service will discuss “Bridges on the Malheur National Forest.”

North Central States Steel Consortium (NCSC) | October 30 – November 1, 2017 Detroit, MI
Tuesday, October 31, Technical Session, 9:30 am to 10:10 am – Joel Hahm, P.E. will discuss the advantages of steel buried bridges during “Structural Plate Buried Structures.”

Wednesday, November 1, Technical Session, 8:20 am to 9:10 am – Michael Barker, P.E., will present the results of his research on life cycle costs during this time at the session titled: “A 50-Year Assessment of Life Cycle Cost: Steel vs. Concrete.”

Wednesday, November 1, Technical Session, 10:15 to 10:45 am – Michael Barker, P.E. will discuss “Standardized Steel Bridge Design” and its advantages for short span structures.

Colorado Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP) Workshops | October 10-11, 2017 | Castle Rock and Grand Junction
The SSSBA will conduct two LTAP workshops in Colorado―October 10 in Castle Rock and October 11 in Grand Junction. Topics will include online design tools; steel bridge economics and life cycle cost comparisons; innovative design; steel buried structures; galvanizing steel bridges; and economical and practical steel detailing.

Ongoing Learning Opportunity: Free Short Span Steel Bridge Design Workshops. For more information about scheduling SSSBA’s half-day or full-day workshops, please contact SSSBA Director Rich Tavoletti at rtavoletti@steel.org.