WABI quotes Dr. Habib Dagher in report on new composite bridge girder designed at the ASCC

August 5, 2019 Civil Infrastructure Durability, Large-scale Bio-based Additive Manufacturing, Recent News

WABI (Channel 5) quoted Habib Dagher, founding executive director of the Advanced Structures and Composites Center at the University of Maine, in a report on new technology the Center helped develop for a composite bridge business in Brewer. AIT Bridges and the UMaine Composites Center are launching a composite tub girder, which will be a “game changer” for bridge construction in Maine, according to WABI.

“We call it the 72-hour bridge,” said Dagher. “The idea here is to build bridges a lot faster than we do today, a lot less expensive than we do today, and that would last quite a bit longer.” The technology will provide MaineDOT and others around the country with more options for bridge construction, the report states.

“If we can build bridges that last longer and take a lot less time to make and so forth, and create jobs in Maine at the same time, that’s a win for everybody,” Dagher said.

The first bridge using the composite girder is planned to be installed in Hampden on Route 1A.