September, 2024: The funding provided under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) in 2021 and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in 2022 provided an “initial, consequential step in bridging the funding gap between the nation’s infrastructure needs and investment,” according to a report issued by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). These funding mechanisms provide about $455 billion in new funding between 2022 and 2026 for surface transportation; aviation; ports and inland waterways; drinking water, wastewater and stormwater; and energy.
Without such aid, the long-term effects of underinvestment in infrastructure tend to reduce business productivity, GDP, employment and global competitiveness, ASCE said in its report, “Bridging the Gap.”
Over the next 10 years, continuing to fund infrastructure protects U.S. industries from losing more than $1 trillion in gross output and helps avoid a loss of more than $600 billion in GDP. These values mean that American families will have an extra $550 billion in disposable income over the next decade and 237,000 jobs will be saved, the society estimates.
“For decades, investments at all levels of government and the private sector failed to keep up with the increasing demands that we put on our infrastructure networks. As the backlog of needs grew, Americans suffered the consequences of that underinvestment.”
However, by continuing to spend, the U.S.—including states, municipalities, counties, the federal government and private partners— is able to make “meaningful progress on the infrastructure investment gap and ensure that networks are built for a 21st century economy,” the report states.
This month, Modern Metals highlights four high-profile infrastructure projects, one of which is privately funded, that epitomize the ways in which such works expand the economy and make life better for people, communities and industry.
WEIGHTS + MEASURES
HOWE BRIDGE STEEL FACTS
Each steel floor beam for the road and bridge decks weighs 25 tonnes, and is 113 feet long by 8 feet tall.
Each steel edge girder weighs 45 tonnes, is 49 feet long by 8 feet tall.
Each steel redundancy girder weighs 3.3 tonnes and is 16.4 feet long.
Each steel soffit panel weighs between 3.3 and 4.6 tons.
Each stay cable consists of rope-like metal strands; each stay cable will have between 38 and 122 strands inside a high-density plastic pipe. If crews were to line up all the steel cable strands used in the bridge, they would stretch from Windsor, Ontario, to Alaska, or about 3,107 miles.
GORDIE HOWE INTERNATIONAL BRIDGE
The six-lane structure, built to connect Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit, should open to traffic as soon as autumn 2025. Workers connected the two halves of the new bridge in late July. The project consists of the longest cable-stayed bridge in North America, the two largest land ports of entry on the Canada-U.S. border and a connection to Interstate 75.
Measuring 0.53 miles, the Gordie Howe International Bridge is the first new crossing to connect Ontario and Michigan in more than 60 years and will contribute to economic growth by strengthening the fluidity and resiliency at the Windsor-Detroit trade corridor, seamlessly connecting North America.
The bridge and road decks are made of steel edge girders, steel floor beams, steel redundancy girders, steel soffit and concrete precast panels. The edge girders have steel-stay pipe anchorages where the cables secure the decks to the towers. The concrete precast panels are placed on top of the floor beams with girders that sit on top of the decks, while the steel soffit panels cover the bottom of each deck. Concrete precast panels are then stitched together with rebar; concrete is poured as a final step (see sidebar above left for more metal-related details).
NEW TERMINAL ONE
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey broke ground in September 2022 for the New Terminal One (NTO) of John F. Kennedy International Airport. Estimated to cost $9.5 billion, funded by a consortium of private financial sponsors, the terminal will cover 2.4 million square feet, more than twice the size of the existing Terminal 1 and Terminal 2. The NTO will double the number of gates that now accommodate wide-body aircraft, with 22 of the 23 new gates designed for larger aircraft that are key to international travel.
JFK Airport is undergoing an immense overhaul, using private funding
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey broke ground in September 2022 for the New Terminal One (NTO) of John F. Kennedy International Airport. Estimated to cost $9.5 billion, funded by a consortium of private financial sponsors, the terminal will cover 2.4 million square feet, more than twice the size of the existing Terminal 1 and Terminal 2. The NTO will double the number of gates that now accommodate wide-body aircraft, with 22 of the 23 new gates designed for larger aircraft that are key to international travel.
In keeping with the Port Authority’s commitment to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, the terminal will be sustainably designed and future focused, including on-site renewable energy generation, electric ground support equipment, and optimized lighting and building controls.
The Port Authority will upgrade roads, parking and utilities and build a new electrical substation as part of the project. The arrivals and departures hall and 14 new gates will open in 2026, and the terminal’s final nine gates will be completed in 2030. The NTO is being built on the sites of the current undersized and outdated Terminal 1, the aging and obsolete 60-year-old Terminal 2 and the site of the former Terminal 3, which was demolished in 2014.
Thornton Thomasetti is NTO’s structural engineer, hired to perform fa•ade engineering, protective design and construction engineering. The firm developed models of how the tree columns, which support the terminal’s expansive roof, would behave under blast loading. The use of hidden braced frames allowed the firm to trim the number and size of the columns. Collaborating with the architecture firm Gensler, Thornton Thomasetti eliminated more than 10,000 tons of steel and 1,000 piles from the project.
Banker Steel, based in Lynchburg, Virginia, was selected to provide more than 33,000 tons of fabricated structural steel for the NTO.
HIGH-SPEED RAIL
The California High-Speed Rail Authority is responsible for planning, designing, building and operating a system that will connect metropolitan regions of the state, contribute to economic development and a cleaner environment, create jobs, and preserve agricultural and protected lands.
When completed, Phase 1 of the high-speed rail system will run from San Francisco to the Los Angeles basin in under three hours at speeds capable of exceeding 200 miles per hour. The system will eventually extend to Sacramento and San Diego, totaling 800 miles with up to 24 stations. In addition, the authority is working with regional partners to implement a statewide rail modernization plan that will invest billions of dollars in local and regional rail lines.
Artist’s rendering of New Terminal One’s dutyfree shopping and restaurant section. Structural steel columns help create wide open spaces.
The authority completed two new rail over-crossings in Fresno County during mid-July. The Mountain View Avenue and the Floral Avenue grade separations are now open to traffic. Construction began in 2023 on both structures and were built by contractor Dragados-Flatiron Joint Venture.
The Mountain View Avenue grade separation measures 368 feet long by 40 feet wide. It contains 200 tons of steel, 16 pre-cast concrete girders and 16,000 cubic yards of concrete. The Floral Avenue grade separation measures 381 feet long by 40 feet wide and contains similar amounts of steel, pre-cast girders and poured concrete. The authority says that construction progresses every day on the project between Madera and Tulare counties. Work is underway to extend construction to 171 miles of future electrified highspeed rail from Merced to Bakersfield.
There are more than 25 active highspeed rail related construction sites in California’s Central Valley, with the authority having also full environmental clearance for 422 miles of the system between the Bay Area and Los Angeles.
California High-Speed Rail corridor’s southern terminus is in Los Angeles. Millions of pounds of rebar support concrete structures, left. Workers weave rebar into a form that creates support columns, below.
FREDERICK DOUGLASS MEMORIAL BRIDGE
The American Institute for Steel Construction chose the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge as its 2024 Bridge of the Year. Crossing the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C., the bridge is 1,444 feet long with two 452-foot-long side spans and a 540-foot-long center span. This design replaced a bridge built in 1950.
To achieve the bridge’s signature arches, structural steel was used. The arches employ an unbraced design to provide an unobstructed view above the deck. The central arch is 20 feet higher than the side arches and has a 168-foot elevation above the water. Steel gives the arches a seamless look from the outside, with all detailing occurring inside the arch section. The arches use butted splices that are entirely internal.
The arches support 88 stay cables. The steel floor system carries three lanes of traffic in each direction. All the sections are I-shaped plate girders with a composite precast panel deck. The edge girders are at a constant depth, with most of their length composed of Grade 50W steel.
The sections at the V-piers are composed of Grade HPS 70W steel where the edge girders are not cable supported, but instead span between supports on the V-pier legs.
The bridge was designed for a 100-year service life using several highperformance materials and coatings, reducing long-term maintenance needs. The steel team included fabricator Veritas Steel LLC of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and detailer Tensor Engineering of Indian Harbour Beach, Florida.
EFFICIENT, RELIABLE
The U.S. economy relies on efficient transportation systems and the reliable delivery of water and energy. U.S. infrastructure investment has improved in recent years. This is not only due to the passage of the IIJA and IRA, which led to significant infrastructure investments in 2022 and 2023, but other investments as well. Such work has long-term benefits for U.S. industry and taxpayers, according to the ASCE.
Large-diameter steel pipe, rebar and structural steel are used in the new bridge
