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25 Years of Delivering Excellence & Value 13 Safety: Priority One A I's Structural Engineer, Damian Silverstrim, PE is involved in the firm's various Virginia projects, such as VDOT load ratings of highway structures and bridges in the Fredericksburg District, as well as streamlining load ratings for the State's program to rate its approxi- mately 21,000 bridges. It wasn't that long ago that bridges were assumed to have the same load rating as the day they were built, he said. "They can't carry what they could 50 years ago," said Mr. Silverstrim, "because bridges dete- riorate and the design truck loading has increased over the years. Our role is to use various software packages to model them as they are now. From a public safety standpoint, it's incredibly important." Bridge load ratings — which dictate the safest maximum load that a bridge can carry — will take on a new importance when heavy trucks are considered. "Where is it safe … where can they direct their load?" he said. For instance, a 1.8-million-pound generator part is be - ing developed and will need to be moved to a Virginia power plant later this year. AI will be load rating all structures along the designated route for VDOT to determine if they can support the transport. With about 3,000 bridges completed so far in Virginia, AI is working to help standardize the State's inspection systems for load ratings. To have safety efforts be efficient, he said, all of the spans need to be considered under the same, uniform criteria. In helping VDOT meet this goal, not only is AI helping to potentially save lives, but is also helping to ensure bridges won't shut down and impact com - panies that have goods in transit. "Contractors would have to learn new software and develop efficient patterns, which is something we tailor very well." said Mr. Sil- verstrim. "This is large volumes of load rating work and we've had years of experience doing this. It would take someone else years to catch up." Civil conditions W hen the Connecticut Airport Authority (CAA) needed an inspection and study of the complete sewer collection and conveyance system at Bradley International Airport (BDL), they turned to AI to complete the project. The work included inspection and evaluation of over 250 structures, the video inspection of several miles of piping, determination of defects and recom - mendations for repair. The work also included the inspection, testing and recommendations for the rehabilitation or replacement of the airport's sanitary pump stations, located throughout the site. "The pump stations required more in-depth investigations." said Associate Vice President, Bob Gallo, PE, "They required significant experience, as the inspections included drawdown testing to eval - uate pump conditions and operating points, as compared to their design specifications. The inspections also included the evaluation of the electrical and mechanical systems within the structures." Crucially, because much of the work was carried out within the restricted Airport Operations Area (AOA) of BDL, as well as the AOA's of the Air and Army National Guard Bases, AI employees were required to pass background checks. "We were performing survey and inspection duties in and around these critical areas," says Mr. Gallo, "it was im - portant to follow proper security protocols, and to be sure all interested parties were aware of our activities." Another major deliverable for the project was an ArcGIS database of the airport's sanitary system. All of the system component locations were surveyed using RTK GPS, and a geospatial database was developed for use by the CAA, in future asset management and system improvement projects. Municipalities trust AI as well. The Town of Enfield in Connecticut turned to AI to complete two road reconstruction projects. One of those, the Green Manor South project, included the realignment and full reconstruction of approximately 1.2 miles of road in the Town. The method used for reconstruction of the road was Full-Depth Reclamation with Portland Cement (FDR-PC). The FDR-PC method involves the in-place recycling of the bituminous concrete surface and underlying subbase materials mixed with Portland cement to increase stability, to serve as the new road subbase. The process resulted in cost savings for the Town over traditional excavate and replace methods, as the existing subsurface conditions favored the use of FDR-PC. Murphy Terminal Pump Station at Bradley Int'l Airport Damian Silverstrim, PE inspecting the Robert O. Norris Bridge