History of highway structures

The Transportation Research Board (TRB) Structures Section recently published Transportation Research Circular E-C104: Fifty Years of Interstate Structures-Past, Present, and Future. The circular documents some of the key legislation, specifications development, and advances in research, design, and construction for bridges and other highway structures since the signing of the Federal Highway Act of 1956. The following eight papers included in the circular were presented at the 85th Annual TRB Meeting in January 2006:

• Evolution of Vehicular Live Load Models During the Interstate Design Era and Beyond;
• Steel Bridges in the United States: Past, Present, and Future;
• The Interstate Highway System and the Development of Prestressed Concrete Bridges;
• Condition Assessment of Highway Structures: Past, Present, and Future;
• Seismic Design and Retrofit of Bridges Using Load and Resistance Factor Design: Past, Present, and Future;
• 50 Years of Tunnels on the Interstate Highway System;
• Culverts: Hidden Structures, Critical Infrastructure Elements; and
• Fiber-Reinforced Polymers for Transportation and Civil Engineering Infrastructure: Reality and Vision.

The circular is available online at https://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/circulars/ec104.pdf (9.38 MB download).