Business View Magazine | December 2019

130 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2019 just that our shell is composite material for reinforcement and for stay-in-place forms, and for protection from the elements. So, we’re just taking certain products that we can help make better. We add ductility to concrete by putting it inside our arches, and we take away some of the brittleness as a result. Half of our girder system is still going to be precast or cast-in- place concrete. We’ll look to do our bridges with CFRP or GRP rebar so we can eliminate corrosion in the decking material, but half our bridge is going to be precast concrete. So, there’s a hybrid opportunity for us all to work together. At this point, there’s a huge market out there. So, we don’t have to go out and steal market share from steel or concrete or wood; the market is increasing dramatically, because we’re aging out of bridges faster.” While AIT Bridges is hoping to work with the other bridge building industries, Svoboda believes that the company has distinct advantages that place it squarely ahead of other composite manufacturers. “There are no other bridge companies,” he reports. “We’re the only nationally-approved, full composite bridge system in the country, right now. What we do have is a lot of competition that has parts, pieces, and components that they can sell to the industry. There are plenty out there that can bid a girder, but can they engineer, design, and fulfill a bridge? “We are a bridge and structure engineering company that happens to use composites for its solutions,” Svoboda declares. “We design and engineer and provide solutions to the market. We engineer structures and use composites as the advantage. We are a solutions providing entity trying to change the way things have been built in the past. With our technology, we’re able to provide solutions that, perhaps, others cannot.” PREFERRED VENDOR n American Concrete Industries www.americanconcrete.com