NCC first entered the infrastructure arena in 2000 with Project 100, a State-backed initiative designed to capitalize on the anticipated growth of FRP composites for bridge decks and other infrastructure applications. Project 100 was also a State of Ohio initiative to accelerate commercial development of FRP composite bridge decks.
NCC completed Phase 1 of Project 100 on June 30, 2001 with Hardcore Composites, LLC. Hardcore designed and manufactured the first eight Project 100 composite bridge decks installed in Ohio. Sandwich constructions were molded using the VARTM process and all wearing surfaces were asphalt. Under Project 100, Hardcore also added 15 jobs at NCC through its partner WebCore Technologies Inc., and invested nearly $400,000 in NCC’s manufacturing facilities. These new jobs produce an economic impact of $4.2 million annually for the Miami Valley.
WebCore became part of NCC’s infrastructure team in 2001 when the company worked with Hardcore to develop lower cost composite preforms for Project 100. WebCore also supplied a ninth bridge deck for Phase 1, which was fully manufactured by the company at NCC’s state-of-the-art facility. When Project 100 closed due to lack of State funding and procurement regulations that made it impossible to direct a sufficiently high enough volume of business to a specific supplier, NCC developed an innovative new approach to achieve its economic
development objectives.
In August 2001, NCC signed an agreement with Martin Marietta Composites (MMC) of Raleigh, North Carolina for the fabrication of six new composite bridge decks under a new program called Composites FOR Infrastructure (C4I). The initiative focuses on facilitating FRP bridge deck installations without state subsidy as well as examining other infrastructure related applications for use of composite materials. The first composite bridge deck was installed in April 2002 on Fairgrounds Road in Greene County, Ohio. With three spans totaling 7,074 square feet, the new deck marks the largest to date to be successfully installed by NCC and MMC under the C4I initiative. NCC is in the midst of installing five more bridges in 2002-03 and is working with other Ohio bridge owners to install additional decks. These projects have resulted in the establishment of two FRP deck suppliers in the Dayton area.
For more about the Benefits of FRP Decks
For more detail on Project 100
For more detail on C4I
You may also want to take a moment to view the professional papers NCC has presented on FRP’s and the infrastructure industry by clicking on one of the titles below.
FRP Material Use on County Bridges – Ohio Bridge Conference July 2002
FRP Composite Bridge Decks: Barriers to Market Development – CFC November 2001