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Fifth National Seismic Conference on Bridges and Highways to be Held in San Francisco

MCEER is organizing the Fifth National Seismic Conference on Bridges & Highways, to be held September 18-20, 2006 in San Francisco. It is the fifth in a series of biennial workshops sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration focusing on the highway infrastructure. With the theme of “Innovations in Earthquake Engineering for Highway Structures,” the conference’s purpose is to increase awareness of seismic and geological hazards and to enhance the technical expertise of engineering professionals so they can mitigate the risk of failure or damage to our bridges and highways.

Past conferences have been held in San Diego (December 1995), Sacramento (July 1997), Portland (April 2002), and Memphis (February 2004). This one will be held in San Francisco to commemorate the devastating earthquake that struck the city in 1906.

Also planned as part of the conference are:

• On-Site Technical Exhibit Area
• Poster Display of projects and studies
• Technical Tour of the San Francisco- Oakland Bay Bridge construction project
• Short Workshop on FHWA’s new Retrofit Manual
• Discussion Panel on Multihazard Design and Retrofit

The large response to the Call for Abstracts resulted in a very competitive selection process. As a result, the technical program is anticipated to be very strong. Full papers are due May 1, 2006.

Prospective participants are encouraged to visit the conference website. On-line registrations will open in late spring 2006. Interested exhibitors and corporate sponsors may obtain further information from MCEER Conference Coordinator, at (716) 645-5155.