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(intense tones)

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- [Narrator] Corrosion of
infrastructure in Texas

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is an ongoing challenge

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costing TxDOT tens of
millions of dollars a year.

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Different techniques are
used to mitigate corrosion,

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but due to our variant climate statewide,

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the most cost-effective strategies

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for each area are not well-defined.

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The Texas Department of Transportation

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and the Texas A&M Transportation Institute

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have developed a decision-making tool

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to better choose corrosion
mitigation strategies

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across the state, allowing
for more effective use

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of transportation funding.

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- About 40 years ago, we
really started, as a agency,

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we started to be concerned about

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durability of our structures.

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And, so we actually
started taking measures

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that were hopefully
gonna be extend the life

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of our structures significantly.

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- Corrosion is a big issue

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and it also causes a lot
of cost to infrastructure.

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And TxDOT wants to have a
tool in order to determine

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what is a good corrosion
prevention mitigation method

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for our bridges.

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- We designed 'em and said

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let's say to last 75 to a hundred years

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with the expectation they're
actually gonna be in service

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much longer than that.

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So we're looking at
bridges, in this project,

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20 to 35 years old.

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- We visited over 100
bridges all over Texas,

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so from El Paso, Amarillo, Houston,

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we visited bridges in Corpus
Christi, Austin, San Antonio.

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And we took a lot of
non-destructive measurements,

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like ultrasonic, like
ground-penetrating radar,

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like infrared thermography.

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We also took samples from these bridges,

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like concrete cores.

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We also took paint samples with us

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and we further looked at them in the lab.

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And with all that information,

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we came up with a decision tool

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from what is the best mitigation,

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corrosion mitigation prevention method,

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in what particular region of Texas.

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- We see that certain areas
of the state obviously

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have a longer life expectancy,

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just based on pure looking at the numbers.

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The panhandle of the state is by far

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the most severe exposure
condition we have in the state.

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So the researchers did
focus a lot of the attention

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on the panhandle, North
Texas, and then we,

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and then particularly,
we wanted to look in the,

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kind of the northeast
quadrant of the state,

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because we think of the issue
of having higher moisture

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in that area is also a durability concern,

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especially with some of the reinforcement

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that we've used in our concrete.

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One of the things this research did

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that was quite beneficial actually,

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produced a document called
the Risk Exposure Map.

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That document will be something

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that all districts will
be able to have access to,

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will be part of potentially
our bridge design manual.

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- Having this decision tool gives Texas

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the opportunity to pick

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the most cost effective
corrosion prevention mitigation

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technique for our bridges,

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and that leads to less maintenance,

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it leads to less potential
traffic or closures of bridges,

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and therefore, less traffic jams.

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- [Narrator] For more information

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and to find the publication
for this project,

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please visit the TxDOT Research Library

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at the link shown below.