Bridge-in-a-Backpack Tech 'Blows Up' Next-Gen Bridges

摘要

In Maine, contractors are "blowing up" bridges: They are inflating hollow carbon-fiber tubes on-site, bending them into arches and infusing them with resin. Filled with concrete, the bridges are ready to be decked, backfilled and paved.rnBrit E. Svoboda, chief executive of Advanced Infrastructure Technologies Inc., which owns the rights to the system, is hiking around the U.S. to promote its "bridge in a backpack"-and, yes, the tubes do fit in a backpack. "We are looking at bridges in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and other states are starting to look for sites," says Svoboda.