Gresham Smith is proud to announce that Engineering Technician Karina Popok, Ph.D., played an instrumental role in shaping the future of segmental bridge evaluation standards through her leadership on the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Project 12-123 that was just adopted by a national committee.
While pursuing her doctorate at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Auburn University, Popok served as the supervising team leader for the multidisciplinary research group that developed new national guidance for the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), and the team’s research was published in NCHRP Research Report 1128.
Segmental bridges, which are built in sections and are commonly used in complex environments, have long presented challenges for evaluation under standard methodologies. Many existing segmental bridges were designed before the widespread adoption of today’s rating systems, often making current assessments overly conservative. The team’s research aimed to close this gap.
As part of the NCHRP 12-123 team—which included professors and graduate students from Auburn, Rutgers and Wayne State universities and industry partners—Popok helped develop a comprehensive framework for evaluating these distinctive structures. The effort led to two ballot items that were adopted by the state representatives of the Safety and Evaluation subcommittee at AASHTO’s Committee on Bridges & Structures Conference in June 2025. The items include:
- A proposed Guideline for Load Rating Segmental Bridges, covering data collection, analysis methods, serviceability calibration, and examples tailored to segmental bridge behavior.
- Revisions to AASHTO’s current Manual for Bridge Evaluation provisions related to live load factors, temperature effects, concrete stress limits, and system redundancy specific to segmental bridge construction.
“Karina’s leadership on this nationally significant project reflects her deep commitment to advancing the engineering profession and finding innovative solutions to real-world infrastructure challenges,” said Adam Davidson, P.E., bridge services leader at Gresham Smith. “Her work will help bridge owners more accurately understand the current behavior, capacity and condition of segmental bridges that will enable them to be able to make better decisions with limited funding options.”
