LDG’s Rissler to Present at 2018 International Bridge Conference® on Innovative “Bridge Slide”

Larson Design Group’s Quentin D. Rissler, PE, transportation program manager and Lititz office leader, will co-present a paper at next year’s 35^th Annual International Bridge Conference® in National Harbor, MD. It will be Rissler’s fourth paper since 2009 to be given at the prestigious conference, presented by the Engineers Society of Western Pennsylvania. The IBC attracts more than 1,200 bridge owners and engineers, senior policy makers, government officials, bridge designers, construction executives and suppliers from around the globe.

Rissler’s topic, with fellow speaker Phil Carper of Road-Con Inc., will be “The Big Slide: Replacing Dual Bridges in One Weekend.” It will summarize the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission’s 2017 demolition and reconstruction of a 60-year-old structurally deficient bridge within a 55-hour timeframe using innovative sliding bridge technology designed by LDG. The accelerated bridge construction “roller” technique was a first for the Turnpike and one of the few bridge slides to have been achieved in the commonwealth over the past three-plus decades. LDG teamed with Road-Con to replace the bridge on the northeast extension of I-476 in Lehigh County over the course of a single weekend, which successfully minimized disruption to tens of thousands of motorists and avoided stiff financial penalties.

Due to the popularity of their topic, Rissler and his colleagues also will be making “Big Slide” presentations in 2018 to a number of professional societies in the region, among them the Delaware Valley Geo Institute/Structural Engineers Institute (Jan. 16), PennDOT District 11-0 (Jan. 18), American Society of Highway Engineers (ASHE), Williamsport Chapter (Jan. 31), PennDOT Transportation Managers Training Workshop in Harrisburg (March 7) and ASHE Franklin Chapter (April 17).

Rissler’s other three papers presented in prior years at the International Bridge Conference have been “The Uncommon Duo: Precast Deck Panels on a Stone Masonry Arch” with Jeff Given of Loftus Construction in 2015, “Accelerated Railroad Bridge Construction to Support Historical Transportation Modes” with Steve Weaver of the Strasburg Railroad in 2013 and “Replacement of Historic Tied Through Arch Bridge” in 2009.

LDG is a nationally emerging engineering, architecture and survey firm with 10 offices in four states. More: www.larsondesigngroup.com