Pre-conference workshop, scheduled for Thursday, June 2 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Hilton (Workshop to be held in the Juneau room, 5th floor), includes box lunch.
If you would like to be able to tell your Pratts from your Warrens and understand why it matters, this is the course for you.
The evolution and context of common bridge-building technologies from stone arches to prestressed-concrete I-beams will be offered as a day-long program intended to inform participants about bridge engineering and history. The program will include explanation of how the different bridge types work, discussion of when they were used and why, important advances within specific technologies, identification of the historically important features of common bridge types, and appropriate rehabilitation techniques. Highway design will also be included, as will a brief overview of the federal laws commonly influencing bridge preservation. The program will be based on illustrated presentations with examples drawn from various regions of the country. A take-home course notebook will be provided to each participant. The plan is to conclude the day with an inspection of nearby bridges in downtown Milwaukee.
The course will be of interest to all professionals who are decision makers about bridges, including planners, engineers, cultural resource managers, and historians, as well as those SIA members who wold simply like to increase their understanding and appreciation of bridges.
The course will be taught by transportation historians Mary E. McCahon (SIA) and Patrick Harshbarger (SIA) of Lichtenstein Consulting Engineers, Inc., a firm recognized nationally for its historic bridge and highway inventories and inspections, evaluations, and rehabilitations of historic bridges. The instructors have more than 25 years combined experience working with old bridges and have conducted statewide inventories in nine states.
For more information, contact SIA's Events Coordinator, Mary Habstritt, at events@siahq.org or 212-769-4946.
