We are starting to hear the lawn mowers cutting grass, birds chirping, and the scent of newly blossoming flowers in the air — all signs of spring which are so exciting and point to the start of summer.  What do we also see on the horizon???  Orange pylons, cement trucks, cranes, iron workers, but the most exciting thing…GREEN REBAR!  The beautiful green bar along the highways and bridges, just waiting to be placed and concrete poured, all to protect our people from the crumbling infrastructure.

While the highway construction is not the most pleasant experience to navigate during the summer months, the construction serves a crucial need.  According to the Infrastructure Report Card, there are currently 617,000 bridges across the United States.  Right now, 42% are 50 years old, and 7.5% are considered structurally deficient, meaning “poor” condition.  While it may sound like a small number, at 7.5%, that’s over 46,000 bridges!

The state department of transportation studies these bridges and it is the bridge office’s job to provide recommendations for the most cost effective, longest lasting solution.  There are many factors to be considered, but one of the most important is concrete exposure to chlorides during the winter months.  These chlorides, in the form of deicing salts, are the cheapest and most readily available product used in the constant battle of preventing ice from building on our roads and bridges.  But… the downside is their penetration into the concrete and the reaction with the steel bars buried inside.  Corrosion begins and creates spalling, which is the chipping of the concrete away from the structure.

The key to preventing spalling is to keep the chlorides from ever contacting the bare steel.  There are options the bridge engineers have available.  Stainless steel, galvanized steel, fiberglass is all suitable for corrosion prevention, but have their drawbacks (cost, availability, ease to work with, etc.).  The most economical, sustainable and BEST performing are bars coated with fusion bonded epoxy powder coating.

In 1973, the first bridge was constructed in West Conshohocken, PA. using epoxy coated reinforced steel.  Later, in 1981, standards were developed (ASTM A775 and ASTM D3863) to ensure that high quality epoxy-coated bars were being supplied and handled properly in the fabrication shops and construction jobsites.  Over the past 40 years, these standards have been revised to enhance the performance of the epoxy coated steel.  The industry also established the Fusion Bonded Coaters Association (FBCA) in 1982 with the goal of promoting and marketing epoxy coated bars.  In 1985, FBCA merged with the Concrete Reinforcing Steel Institute (CRSI) to form a technical standard developing organization to become the authoritative resource for information related to steel reinforced concrete construction. In 2008, a new group was formed within CRSI:  The Epoxy Interest Group (EIG) promotes and markets the use of epoxy coated steel within the concrete construction industry.  EIG consists of steel producers, epoxy powder applicators, bar fabricators and the epoxy powder manufacturers.  As of 2010, this group has provided epoxy coated bars for over 65,000 structures over the past 37 years, according to a study by David McDonald, PhD, PE.  Today’s epoxy coated bars are produced with such expertise that the life expectancy is 100 years!

With the beautiful spring air and summer right around the corner, keep in mind that when you see the orange barrels and red taillights, your taxpaying dollars are put hard at work, using the most economical, long-lasting, epoxy-coated rebar in our bridges and roads to keep us safe!