U.S. government eyes University of Maine's bridge technology

be about one-third less than that of a standard concrete bridge and one-fourth less than a standard steel bridge.

LaHood said he plans to take the information he received Monday about many of the center’s technologies to President Obama’s Green Cabinet, which includes LaHood and other administration officials such as the secretaries of energy and interior and the Environmental Protection Agency administrator.

He also mentioned inviting Dagher to meet with the Green Cabinet in Washington, D.C. Dagher testified last summer about wind energy before the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

During a press conference Monday afternoon, LaHood praised the work going on at the composite center.

“There is definitely a role for our government in what is going on here at this innovative incubator, where ideas really count and where the research is very important, and you are all on the cutting edge of new developments in transportation and in energy,” he told more than 100 UMaine faculty, students, staff and businessmen affiliated with the center.

One of those businessmen was Bangor native Brit Svoboda, the CEO and managing partner of the center’s spinoff company Advanced Infrastructure Technologies LLC, or AIT. AIT plans to invest approximately $20 million into continuing development and commercialization of the technology.

Svoboda said LaHood’s influence could make a difference when AIT goes to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, which puts out specifications and standards for materials such as lumber, steel and concrete. Svoboda said the association does not have an approval system.

“It’s going to help us a lot for someone of his level to be able to go to AASHTO with what he has seen [in Orono],” Svoboda said.

Since his confirmation in late January, La Hood said he has traveled to at least twenty-seven states and about 45 cities to look at new technologies.

Media members were not allowed to observe most of LaHood’s tour, but state Rep. Emily Cain of Orono said LaHood seemed interested in the composite center’s projects, asking questions about jobs spurred by the technology, as well as energy, recycling and efficiency. “He saw a little bit of everything,” Cain said. “It seemed to me that the light bulb was going off, saying, this has universal applications. He seemed willing to bring it back to Washington.”

While the federal government may need more time to examine the bridge-in-a-backpack concept, it seems to be moving forward in Maine. The composites center came in as the low bidder for a bridge rebuild in North Anson, and work there is expected to begin soon. The first bridge in the nation to use the technology was built last year in Pittsfield.