Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
The U.S. is home to nearly 73,000 structurally deficient bridges. Though you’d think that such bridges would be high priority infrastructure projects, the waiting list for replacement spans several decades. Enter Mohamed Saafi, a civil engineer at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, who has developed smart paint – a mixture of fly ash and carbon nanotubes. When applied to older bridges, the fly ash provides extra weather-resistant durability while the nanotubes provide an early warning signal when flaws in the structure become pronounced. If we can’t replace deficient infrastructure right away, at least we can know when it may become a danger.(Ecocentric Blog | Time)
Image from Ecocentric Blog | Time
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One comment
73,000 deficient bridges eh?
That’s almost as many as in Quebec!!