Tag Archive for: sustainability

The Importance of Adopting Green Construction Practices

Sustainability is a hot topic lately; stakeholders across all industries are being compelled to switch their practices to incorporate more “green” practices in the interest of protecting the planet from further pollution and complying with new regulations. The construction industry is no exception; green construction is taking over the sector. Construction firms are adopting green construction practices to ensure that future projects are built sustainably and that cities are cleaner places to live and work.

What is Green Construction?

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), “green construction is the practice of creating structures and using processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building’s life cycle.” This includes the design and construction of the building, as well as any future operations, maintenance, and renovations. More and more construction companies are adopting green practices in their building projects. In 2021, 47% of construction companies identified 60% of its projects as green building projects. This represents significant growth, compared to only 27% of construction firms making this claim in 2018.

The environmental benefits of sustainable construction are numerous, including:

  • Enhancing and protecting the ecosystem. Construction zones are notorious for being environmentally hazardous. Implementing green construction practices will help reduce the long-term devastation of ecosystems and their inhabitants.
  • Improving air and water quality. According to the World Green Building Council, the construction industry generates an estimated 39% of the world’s total carbon emissions. Structures built using green construction practices create less pollution than those built using traditional construction tactics.
  • Reducing waste. In a 2018 study, the EPA found that the United States produced over 600 million tons of construction-related waste. Green construction sites produce significantly less waste than traditional construction sites.
  • Conserving and restoring natural resources. These modern buildings utilize natural, renewable energy resources to create electricity. Wind turbines, solar panels, and water pump systems all power these green buildings without creating waste or burning fossil fuels.

Examples of Green Construction

Thankfully, we are seeing more and more green buildings pop up across the globe. These structures are not only striking to look at and great examples of modern architecture, but they are also paving the way for green buildings to be the norm instead of the exception.

Museum of Tomorrow – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

This incredible science museum is beautiful to look at and a testament to the future of architecture. The building features adjustable, fin-like solar panels and a revolutionary air-conditioning system that distributes the cold water from Guanabara Bay throughout the building. This all-natural method of providing cool air throughout the building is a great energy saver.

Shanghai Tower – Shanghai, China

The Shanghai Tower is the world’s second-tallest building, measuring 2,073 feet. This building is wrapped in a transparent second layer through which captured air serves as natural ventilation. This innovation, including the 270 wind turbines that power the building’s external lights, significantly reduced energy costs and waste.

CopenHill – Copenhagen, Denmark

This power plant burns waste to generate electricity. Every year, 440,000 tons of garbage is converted into clean electricity and heating for 150,000 nearby homes. In addition to being a green power plant, this building is a sports facility with one of the world’s tallest climbing towers and artificial ski slopes.

The Future is Green

The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 represents the largest investment in climate action in U.S. history. This bill directs $370 billion over the next decade to rapidly increase renewable energy production and create significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. This will be accomplished by accelerating the production of clean energy, vehicles, buildings, and manufacturing.

Backed by federal funding, states and cities will hopefully continue to turn to more green construction practices in the future.

Durable, Sustainable Bridges

Here at U.S. Bridge, we believe in building bridges that positively affect the community and that will last decades. Construction has a major impact on a country’s environment, including its carbon footprint.

As industry leaders and an AISC-recognized supplier, we work directly with companies around the world—without middlemen—to engineer, manufacture, and construct high-quality steel bridges for every project. Steel is a strong, recyclable, and versatile material that is great for construction.

That’s why we’re proud to offer a wide selection of prefabricated bridges specifically designed for your project.

Contact us for a free estimate, or use our industry-leading Bridgescope tool to begin planning your project now!

The U.S. Bridge Prefabricated Steel Bridge Process

The U.S. Bridge Prefabricated Steel Bridge Process

U.S. Bridge prides itself on working with the latest engineering techniques and the most advanced materials. Incorporating prefabricated steel bridges into stable products has enabled the company to expand. Also, this allows immediate help in areas where traffic patterns demand a quick fix. Below is an overview of the U.S. Bridge prefabricated steel bridge process and why these bridges are such a game-changer for infrastructure.

 Why Prefabricated?

Prefabricated steel bridges have transformed the bridge-building industry. They are a cost-effective solution to a critical need: reinforced and revamped bridges. Key features of these bridges are:

  • Easy Upkeep – All connections are bolted, eliminating pins that often require frequent maintenance. Galvanized steel is also a completely recyclable material and is abundantly available keeping costs down.
  • Easy Assembly – Fewer parts means putting the bridges together is a quicker process. Consequently, fewer parts significantly reduce the chance for on-site construction errors. This makes assembly quicker and increases quality assurance. For more information about accelerated bridge construction, click here.
  • Easy Disassembly –  It is easy to disassemble prefabricated steel bridges, making it convenient to use as temporary or emergency structures.

 Why U.S. Bridge?

These prefabricated bridges were first used in the 1930s. As an industry leader and trailblazer, U.S. Bridge has been building prefabricated steel bridges since 1936. As an AISC certified fabricator of Advanced Bridges with Fracture Critical and Sophisticated Paint Endorsements, U.S. Bridge has a proven and reliable fabricating and quality assurance process. U.S. Bridge’s Engineering to Fabricating interface program ensures that all design and fabricating details are transferred to computer controlled CNC automated equipment. This includes a CNC Plate Processor, Automated Beam Line, Saw and numerous Robotic Welders. And, this direct transfer ensures that the bridge you have approved is the exact same bridge that will be fabricated.

U.S. Bridge meets the ongoing needs of our customers with a commitment to providing the highest level of quality bridge solutions possible. Their goal is to continually achieve a “best practice approach” with everything they build. And, they have been doing it for more than 80 years.

For more information about U.S. Bridge and their Prefabricated Steel Bridge Process, please call +1 (888) 852-0094.

The Liberty Bridge: Connecting Communities In Puerto Rico

The Liberty Bridge: Connecting Communities In Puerto Rico

Created from prefabricated panels and assembled in modules, the Liberty Bridge is a proven type of structure offering profound benefits in flexibility and installation. These advantages went a long way toward helping Puerto Rico heal following the Hurricane Maria devastation.

Featuring 8-foot by 12-foot welded panels, the Liberty Series is unique in that it can be configured and installed quickly without special equipment. Made of new, domestic steel, the Liberty Bridge can be launched or set with the use of a crane. With all-bolted connections, the bridge functions without the need for pins or other proprietary parts or designs. And thanks to floor-to-truss framing connections engineered according to AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specification, the model offers superior stability.

Benefits of the Liberty Bridge

While the Liberty Series is created to serve as a high-quality, permanent structure, it’s also suitable for emergency or temporary bridging. If necessary, the structure can be easily unbolted and moved in sections to another location. Spanning up to 200 feet, the Liberty Bridge can support one or multiple lanes of traffic and comes with either checkered plate or anti-skid epoxy flooring. All of these features help make the Liberty Bridge an ideal choice for dealing with emergencies.

Helping Puerto Rico Heal

In 2017, Puerto Rico suffered a devastating natural disaster. A once-in-a-lifetime storm, Hurricane Maria featured 175-MPH winds and flooding and left all of Puerto Rico without power for weeks.

Additionally, the hurricane devastated the island’s infrastructure, destroying bridges in Utuado, San Lorenzo, and Juana Diaz, among other areas, leaving residents stranded and vulnerable. That’s where US Bridge came in.

A leader in bridge building and design, U.S. Bridge was proud to be able to help Puerto Rico residents recover from this difficult period in their lives. Within a mere six weeks, the company had manufactured and installed bridges in five communities across the island. The modular bridges helped bring relief to local families, connecting them with much-needed support and services.

Contact U.S. Bridge Today

Wondering if the Liberty Series Bridges are right for your needs? The Liberty Series Bridge has been load tested by the West Virginia University. Report available upon request.  Contact us for more information.

Steel vs. Concrete White Paper

Analyzing the life cycle costs of steel vs. concrete bridges is of utmost importance to U.S. Bridge and the infrastructure industry in general. Aside from sustainability and social responsibility, U.S. Bridge is dedicated to using the best materials for the job. Depending on the scope of work and bridge design, the choice between steel or concrete could have a long-lasting impact on the sustainability of the structure.

U.S. Bridge asked Michael G. Barker Ph.D., a professor at the University of Wyoming, to draft a white paper regarding the Life Cycle Costs Analysis (LCCA) of bridges. Of particular interest was the use of hot-dip galvanized steel vs. concrete. The study determined that using HDG steel reduces capital costs by 8.5 percent. Below is the executive summary of the report that provides a good snapshot of the report and its findings. You can download the entire white paper here.

Executive Summary

Since the early 1990s, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has promoted the consideration of Life Cycle Costs Analysis (LCCA) in the design and engineering of bridges. LCCA determines the “true cost” of bridge alternatives considering the time-value of money. The Life Cycle Cost analyses employed in this study uses the Perpetual Present Value Cost (PPVC) of bridge alternatives for an equivalent comparison between the alternatives.

Over the years, the author has worked with state departments of transportation and local county engineers on effective and economical bridge construction. A frequent question that arises during meetings is the difference in Life Cycle Costs between steel and concrete girder bridges. Both the concrete industry and the steel industry cite various anecdotal advantages above the other for the Life Cycle Costs over the life of the bridge. There has historically been a healthy competition between material types for new bridge construction. However, there is industry and owner confusion on how the different types of bridges compare on a Life Cycle Cost basis.

Steel vs. Concrete Bridge Analysis

This study developed useful owner information on historical Life Cycle Costs for typical steel and concrete state bridges in Pennsylvania. Typical bridges defined in the study are:

  • Concrete decks supported by steel rolled beams
  • Steel plate girders
  • Precast concrete boxes
  • Precast concrete beams

PennDOT historical records for bridges built between 1960 and 2010 were used to develop the Life Cycle Cost study database. Initial and maintenance costs considered include total project costs (more than just superstructure) as recorded in the PennDOT records. The PennDOT database used for the Life Cycle Cost analyses only includes a subset of the total bridge inventory. Missing cost and date data for a majority of the individual bridges made total inventory impossible. The database consists of 1,186 state bridges out of 6,587 (18 percent of the eligible inventory) built between 1960 and 2010.

The initial costs, Life Cycle Costs, and future costs of the 1,186 bridges in the database are examined with respect to:

  • Variability in bridge type
  • Bridge length
  • Number of spans
  • Bridge life

Protective coating systems were also used to examine steel bridges. The results must be taken into context since the results only represent the bridges that made it into the database. The database is not as comprehensive or desirable for drawing conclusions. The reader must decide how to interpret the tables and figures showing comparisons of initial costs, Perpetual Present Value Costs, maintenance and future costs, and bridge life.  

Report Conclusion Summary

A conclusion that can be drawn is that all the types of bridges are fairly competitive in both Initial Costs and Perpetual Present Value Costs. The average initial costs vary from $174 per square feet to $226 square feet. The average Perpetual Present Value Costs vary between $218 per square feet (Prestressed I Beam) and $278 per square feet (Prestressed Adjacent Box). The lowest average bridge life was 73 years (Prestressed I Beam) and the longest was 82 years (Steel I Beam). The coefficient of variation (standard deviation/mean) of the PPVC was approximately 20 percent, which is considerably high. With the relatively small differences in the PPVC averages, given the dispersion of the PPVC costs (standard deviation), any of the bridge types may have the least Perpetual Present Value Cost for a given project.

Chance for Further Study

This research was limited to a subset of PennDOT bridges. However, the analyses demonstrate the potential benefits of LCC analysis for bridge construction and management. A study of a more comprehensive database of bridges on the initial costs, Life Cycle Costs and future costs of different types of bridges over a diverse set of circumstances would be very useful for bridge owners and managers. A more comprehensive database would allow for a more accurate comparison of bridge types, design details, such as jointless decks, rebar coatings, steel protection systems, and other construction details.

For more information about this study, as well as the benefits of steel vs. concrete bridges, please contact U.S. Bridge today. You can also download the complete white paper here.

Steel, Our Most Sustainable Material

Steel, Our Most Sustainable Material

Steel is one of the most widely utilized building materials for a variety of purposes, including:

  • Commercial and residential building projects
  • Bridges and highway construction
  • Vehicles and household appliances

Fortunately, through decades of innovation, steel has become easier to manufacture; and just as importantly, steel is one of the most recycled and thus sustainable materials in the world.

Why is Sustainability Important?

Sustainable materials don’t deplete non-renewable natural resources during the manufacturing process. This is extremely important since non-renewable resources are only available in finite quantities. The other benefit to preserving non-renewable resources is to maintain the environment’s natural equilibrium.

What Makes Steel Sustainable?

One factor that makes steel a sustainable material is its significant reduction in energy emissions (by approximately 31 percent). One ton of steel now takes one-third less energy to manufacture than it did in 1990. Also, during steel production, carbon dioxide emissions have been reduced by 36 percent. Steel is also the most recycled material in the world, with more than 65 million tons recycled per year.

What is Life Cycle Thinking?

The steel industry has committed itself to Life Cycle Thinking. This method of analysis allows the industry to continually examine its environmental impact. Thus, Life Cycle Thinking looks beyond simple eco-friendly practices to understand the impact of steel production on all aspects of daily life. This includes manufacturing, design and production, use and maintenance, disposal and recyclability of waste and components.

Using Recyclable Steel

An estimated 93 percent of steel currently used in construction projects is recycled. Additionally, 98 percent of a building’s steel is recycled back into other steel projects once the building reaches the end of its life-cycle. This recycling happens without any degradation to the quality of the steel, making it a truly reusable resource.

We at U.S. Bridge pride ourselves on building structures that last, without negatively impacting the environment. By working with a sustainable material, like steel, we’re confident that our bridges will be around for decades without leaving much of a carbon footprint.

U.S. Bridge has worked with local and state governments and recently completed a bridge-building project in under 30 days. To discover what our professional team can do for your next project, please contact us today.