ABC UTC

History

Recognizing the need for a dedicated center for ABC, a group of renowned U.S. bridge engineering professionals gathered at FIU in Miami, Florida in November 2010. The group established – on a voluntary basis, without external funding and supported entirely by just $50,000 of seed funding from FIU – the Center for Accelerated Bridge Construction (abc-utc.fiu.edu), with the objective of helping the bridge profession. The ABC Center at FIU officially commenced its activities in January of 2011, with a concentration on technology transfer of existing knowledge.

In the span of just two short years, the ABC Center at FIU has been a great success. Beginning in March of 2011, the ABC Center at FIU offered free webinars on a monthly basis to engineers and other bridge professionals. These webinars attracted an average of 4,000 participants each month.

The ABC-UTC allows the founders of the ABC Center at FIU to dive further into their mission of aiding the bridge profession by embarking on ABC-related research with emphasis on state of good repair, working to improve ABC workforce development, undertaking various educational activities and expanding the Center’s technology transfer activities. The existing ABC Center at FIU created a sturdy foundation on which to build the first UTC devoted solely to ABC, focusing on efficient bridge rehabilitation and rapid bridge replacement.

Objectives

The broad objectives of the Tier I Accelerated Bridge Construction University Transportation Center (ABC-UTC) are to advance the frontier of Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC); develop new ABC knowledge; effectively transfer the state-of-the-art ABC knowledge to the profession; develop a next-generation ABC work force; and collaborate with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), Departments of transportation (DOTs), other UTCs, and the transportation profession to make ABC the best solution for the nation’s aging bridge infrastructure in line with U.S. DOT’s strategic focus on State of Good Repair.