Recycled plastics used for railroad bridges

NEW PROVIDENCE, N.J. — Axion International Holdings, Inc., received a $957,000 contract for construction of two railroad bridges designed from nearly 100-percent recycled plastics. The U.S. Army commissioned the bridges to be built at Fort Eustis, Va., home of the U.S. Army Transportation Corps. The main structural components of these bridges will be made entirely from recycled consumer and industrial plastics using Axion’s proprietary immiscible blending to create Recycled Structural Composites (RSC). Additionally, the railroad crossties will be made out of virtually 100-percent recycled consumer and industrial plastics. Design and engineering work is being supported by Virginia-based Centennial Contractors Enterprises, the general contractor for the project, and Parsons Brinckerhoff.

A Recycled Structural Composite bridge at Fort Bragg, N.C., can support loads greater than 73 tons for tracked vehicles.

With load rating capacities of 130 tons, these bridges will reach a new milestone in thermoplastic load bearing capacity, Axiom said, surpassing the current record held by Axion’s bridges at Fort Bragg, N.C., which are able to support loads greater than 73 tons for tracked vehicles and 88 tons for wheeled vehicles.

The RSC bridges will replace two wooden bridges that have been taken out of service and do so in a faster amount of time and less expensively than could have been achieved using wood, steel, or concrete, Axiom said. The new short-span bridges will extend approximately 40 feet and 80 feet, respectively. Each of these bridges will be designed to achieve a high-load rating of 130 tons to transport locomotives and freight traffic for military movement and base exercises and achieving a Cooper E-60 Rating.