U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), the Ranking Member of the Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee, announced Friday that the University of Maine’s Transportation Infrastructure Durability Center would receive more than $2.5 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT).
The $2,583,300 in funding would allow the center to continue its work in increasing the resiliency of our transportation infrastructure, Collins said.
“Increasing the durability of our transportation network is key to lowering long-term maintenance costs and reducing environmental impacts,” Collins said. “The University of Maine is an established leader in advanced construction technology, which boosts economic growth and job creation here in Maine. The recently completed Grist Mill Bridge in Hampden, which is designed to last 100 years with minimal maintenance, is a prime example of the benefits that UMaine’s cutting-edge transportation research has for our state. This continued funding for the University of Maine’s Transportation Infrastructure Durability Center will support additional research to build more resilient bridges, roads, and rail lines that will help improve safety and save taxpayer dollars.”
In May 2021, Collins co-led a hearing on transportation infrastructure resiliency and invited Dr. Habib Dagher, executive director for UMaine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center, to testify. Later that month, the Grist Mill Bridge in Hampton, the first in the nation to use fiber reinforced polymer girders, or GBeams, opened. GBeams were designed and patented by UMaine’s ASCC and licensed to AIT Bridges.
Previously, in 2018, UMaine was chosen by the DOT to lead a newly created University Transportation Center (UTC), and given up to $14.2 million over five years for the university to lead a coalition of six New England universities, in researching and developing new state-of-the-art transportation technologies.