NSBA’s World Steel Bridge Symposium, November 17-20 in San Antonio. This is a once-every-two-year opportunity to learn about the latest innovations in steel bridges, discuss the newest design methodologies, and meet industry leaders. We urge you to attend this conference. It’s the best way to join us in our progress and become more engaged with NSBA and the steel bridge industry.
The conference brings together state transportation officials, FHWA, state bridge engineers, erectors, design engineers, fabricators, construction professionals, and professors from around the world to discuss all aspects of steel bridge design and construction.
This year’s keynote addresses the innovative Genesis & Development of the Network Arch Bridge Concept and will be presented by its innovator, Per Tveit from Agder University in Norway. Tveit will outline how the inclined hangers with multiple intersections make the network arch bridge act like a truss, with only axial compressive and tensile forces, limited bending moments and shear forces.
You also won’t want to miss a special presentation by Theodore Zoli, vice president and bridge technical director of HNTB Corp., who recently won a $500,000 grant from the T. MacArthur Foundation (commonly known as a “Genius Grant”) for his work on bridge design and security reinforcement. Zoli is the first bridge engineer to be recognized by the foundation. He’ll discuss an innovative network tied-arch bridge across the Ohio River. The bridge is one of the longest of its type and features an unusual network hanger system that’s been shown to be 10 times stiffer than the more typical vertical hanger system and also provides triple corrosion protection.
You’ll also find workshops on bridge coatings, accelerated construction technologies, prefabricated bridge elements and systems, and other sessions that feature steel’s long-life, low maintenance costs, quick erection, and environmentally sound attributes.
And the exhibit hall has dozens of products and services that advance the state of the art of the steel bridge industry. There, you’ll get a great sense of the excitement, the breadth and depth of our growing industry.
The four days of workshops and sessions will highlight the reasons why steel is the material that great designers turn to when facing a challenge or designing the finest bridges.
To register for the 2009 WSBS, please visit www.steelbridges.org/wsbsregistration. More information on the symposium can be found at www.steelbridges.org/wsbs.
