Recommendations for Blast Design and Retrofit of Typical Highway Bridges

Abstract

Bridge design for security has received national attention following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Intelligence gathered since then has revealed threats to bridges in California and New York. In addition, suspected terrorists have been arrested with materials such as video footage of critical structural elements and information on cutting devices needed to destroy bridge cables in their possession. As a result, various state departments of transportation (DOTs) and the federal government are looking into ways that highway infrastructure can be designed to withstand extreme loads better. A pool-funded research project supported by seven state DOTs was conducted by the University of Texas and consultants with expertise in structural response to blast loads. The purpose of this research was to develop economical and effective measures to improve bridge security. Because engineers traditionally have not needed to consider security in the design of bridges and few data exist for the response of ...