PHILLIP C. PIERCE, P.E.

e-mail: phil @ philsbridges.com

EDUCATION: M.E./Pennsylvania State University/Engineering Science/1983

B.S./Pennsylvania State University/Civil Engineering/1972

REGISTRATION: Professional Engineer: NH, NY, PA, VT

SUMMARY OF PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

Mr. Pierce has over 30 years of extensive and varied experience in structural engineering, primarily focused on bridges. His background includes involvement on virtually all types of bridge engineering projects, ranging from routine minor drainage culverts to world-class suspension and cable-stayed structures. Project assignments have included highway, railway and pedestrian bridges having fixed and movable spans. Tasks have ranged from design of new structures to evaluation and rehabilitation of existing structures, including collapse investigations. Mr. Pierce has also participated in many types of building and general structural engineering projects and has served as Project Manager on numerous highway/bridge projects, including all aspects of the complete transportation package.

Mr. Pierce has served in various positions of responsibility on projects for 15 State DOT's, several transportation/bridge authorities, and many smaller agencies/clients on over 100 design/rehabilitation projects and inspections/evaluations of over 1,000 bridges.

WORK EXPERIENCE:

Phillip C. Pierce, P.E. – Proprietor, 1999 to present:

Part-time consulting practice established 1999 with primary focus on covered bridge engineering. Recent assignments include work on six covered bridges – described later under “Covered Bridge Experience”. Recent selection as Principal Investigator by FHWA for preparation of a Covered Bridge Manual, as part of the National Historic Covered Bridge Preservation Program.

Delaware County Department of Public Works, Delhi, New York – Deputy Commissioner, 10/99 to present:

Responsible for all engineering assignments of the DPW, including work on about 300 bridges and 300 miles of County-owned roads. Projects support the DPW annual construction budget of about $4M for bridges. Served as Engineer for recent work on the Hamden and Fitch’s Covered Bridge Rehabilitations.

Shumaker Consulting Engineering and Land Surveying, P.C. , Vestal, NY – Managing Engineer, 3/1998-9/1999.

Responsible for structural and bridge engineering activities of the firm, including NYSDOT biennial bridge inspections. Included design of an authentic replacement covered bridge in Tunbridge, Vermont.

McFarland-Johnson, Inc., Binghamton, NY – Structures Department Manager, 1989-2/1998:

Responsible for all aspects of the variety of structural projects and tasks undertaken by the firm, and participation in overall management of the firm. Included Project Management of the Statewide Study of Covered Bridges in Vermont and the rehabilitation of the Hopkins and Paper Mill Covered Bridges in VT.

Sverdrup Corporation, Falls Church, VA – Deputy Section Manager, 1987-1989:

Responsible for a variety of bridge projects, including several world-class structures.

Modjeski and Masters, Harrisburg, PA - Associate, 1972-1980 and 1981-1987:

Increasingly responsible roles involving all sizes and types of bridges up to and including many world-class structures, including several historic bridges.

COVERED BRIDGE EXPERIENCE:

FHWA Research Project – Development of Covered Bridge Manual, 2000-3 – Principal Investigator to develop a Manual to be published by FHWA dealing with all aspects of covered bridges, from initial evaluation and planning through preparation of design and rehabilitation plans and construction.

Power House Covered Bridge, Johnson, VT, 2001-2 – Project Engineer for the preparation of plans for the construction of a replacement covered bridge to generally replicate the previous bridge destroyed by snow loading in early 2001. The 72-foot long bridge is supported by Queen Post trusses.

Fitch’s Covered Bridge, Delaware County, NY, 2001 – Project Engineer for the preparation of construction documents and construction inspection for the rehabilitation of the 1870 bridge supported by Town Lattice trusses. The 100-foot bridge required a complete floor replacement, new overhead bracing system, new siding, and roofing.

Brown’s River Covered Bridge, Westford, VT, 2001 – Engineer for the evaluation and preparation of construction documents for re-siting the 100-foot long Burr Arch covered bridge, built in 1836, over the Browns River. The project included a review of previous repairs and recommendations for additional repairs, in addition to relocating the bridge back over its river setting.

Hectorville, West Hill & Hutchins Covered Bridges, Montgomery, VT, 2001 – Project Engineer for the evaluation of alternatives for preservation action at each of the three bridges. All three are single-span Town Lattice bridges built in the 1800s. Each site is unique and involves a location on a dead-end road, rural unimproved road, or bypass condition. Alternative actions include potential relocation and/or identification of other roadway access or improvement. General requirements for rehabilitation were developed.

Hamden Covered Bridge, Delaware County, NY, 2000 – Project Engineer for the preparation of construction documents for the rehabilitation of the 1858 bridge built using the Long truss configuration. The project included removal of an existing timber bent near mid-span of the structure to reconfigure the bridge back to a single-span structure. Single piece glue-laminated tensile chords, 130-foot long, were used to avoid splices.

Bartonsville Covered Bridge, Rockingham, VT, 2000 – Engineer for the in-depth analytical evaluation of the 160-foot Town Lattice supported bridge, built 1870, over the Williams River. The project included an extensive computer simulation of the loading of the bridge, along with field load testing for verification of computer predictions. The capacity of the bridge was documented for an increase from 3 tons to 17 tons without rehabilitation.

Fuller Covered Bridge, Montgomery, VT, 2000 – Engineer for the design of a replacement floor system and preparation of record plans for the rehabilitation of a 50-foot Town Lattice supported bridge, built 1890, over Black Falls Creek. The project was handled as a design-build contract for Blow & Cote, Inc.

Mill Covered Bridge, Tunbridge, VT, 1999 – Project Manager/Engineer for the design of the 72-foot single-lane highway bridge replacement of a previous structure destroyed by ice. The structure is supported by multiple king post trusses and is designed of all sawn material to support a 15-ton design vehicle. The project was handled by a design-build contract for Daniels Construction, Inc.

Long Range, Town‑owned, Covered Bridge Study, Vermont AOT, Statewide, VT, 1992-95 ‑ Project Manager for evaluations and report generation for 75 timber, covered bridges located throughout the State. The Study, costing over $870,000, was the most expensive ever undertaken for work on covered bridges. The project involved traffic and structural considerations, computing the load rating capacities, and making recommendations to assist in preserving these historic structures indefinitely. Field testing of distribution beams was included to assess the behavior of these controversial components. Work also included research involving wooden peg testing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to assist evaluation of Town Lattice trusses.

Hopkins and Paper Mill Covered Bridges, Vermont AOT, Enosburg and Bennington, VT, 1996-99

‑ Project Manager/Engineer for the preparation of construction documents for the rehabilitation of two Town Lattice style covered bridges. Research included large‑scale destructive testing of components of the bridges that helped to establish appropriate allowable stresses for redesign. On‑site intensive evaluation by an expert wood scientist allowed determination of site‑specific allowable stresses for comparison with test results. Three‑dimensional computer modeling of the structures enabled refined force determination.

OTHER TIMBER STRUCTURE EXPERIENCE

Navy Ships Part Control Center (NSPCC), Mechanicsburg, PA ‑ Project Manager/Engineer for inspection, analysis and rehabilitation of timber trusses and timber crane support systems contained in 25 large timber warehouse structures built during early 1940's.

NSPCC ‑ After completing the preceding assignment, was awarded open‑end contract (work spanned over a ten‑year period) for structural investigations in which Mr. Pierce served as Project Manager for assignments involving Timber floor system investigation for multiple buildings and Rehabilitation of crane supports in multiple buildings.

Salvation Army, Binghamton, NY ‑ Responsible for investigation and repair of a three‑story, 150,000 square foot timber‑framed building.

Watertown Municipal Airport, Watertown, NY ‑ Responsible for structural evaluation and rehabilitation of 10,000 square foot timber hangar.

Shinnecock Nation Cultural Center & Museum, Southampton, NY ‑ Responsible for design of connections of truss construction using logs.

84 Lumber Building Collapse Investigation, Harrisburg, PA – Participated as engineer in the investigation of collapse of a timber-framed building supported by timber bowstring trusses.

TIMBER TESTING EXPERIENCE:

Lattice member testing at Virginia Tech (1995/6) – Responsible for development and management of a laboratory testing program of eight lattice members removed from Town Lattice supported covered bridges in Vermont (preparatory for rehabilitation work of the bridges). The tests were conducted at Virginia Tech under the direction of Professor Joe Loferski, as a specialty subcontractor. Destructive and non-destructive tests were performed in accordance with the protocol contained in ASTM D198 for large specimens and D143 for small, clear specimens, obtained from the residue of the fractured components of the D198 tests.

Wooden peg connection tests (1995/6) – Responsible for development and management of a laboratory testing program of various full-size joint configurations simulating those of Town Lattice covered bridges. The work was performed at MIT under the direction of Drs. Ben Brungraber and Leonard Morse-Fortier, as specialty subconsultants. Measurement of several structural parameters included: tension, compression, bearing, and shear, parallel and perpendicular to grain.

Timber “distribution beam” tests (1993) – Responsible for development and management of a field testing program to ascertain the effectiveness of such beams. These longitudinally-oriented structural elements have been added beneath the transverse floor beams at a number of covered bridges. Yet their effectiveness in distributing axle loads over a number of floor beams is controversial. That work included field instrumentation, engineering evaluation, and report preparation documentation.

Town Lattice Chord Element Distribution Tests (2001) – Responsible for development, management, and engineering associated with a field-testing program of a Town Lattice supported covered bridge. The work measured the strains in the bottom chord elements at various locations to determine how loads are distributed around terminations of chord elements.

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS:

Fellow, past Section officer and Council Delegate ‑ American Society of Civil Engineers

Professional Member of the Prestressed Concrete Institute; recently served as an editor for a new comprehensive Design Manual.

Professional Member of the American Institute of Steel Construction.

Member – Timber Framers’ Guild of North America

Member – 10 separate covered bridge preservation societies in North America

PRESENTATIONS / PUBLICATIONS:

Mr. Pierce has authored several articles for national trade journals and has made numerous presentations to local, regional, and national seminars and conferences. The more important conferences include multiple presentations at the International Bridge Conference at Pittsburgh, PA, the Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting at Washington, D.C., and World Structures Congresses (various locations) sponsored by the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Representative Presentations about covered bridges to larger audiences:

· “Covered Bridges – Unique Transportation Structures”, presentation at the 58^th Annual New York State Association of State Transportation Engineers Conference, Corning, NY, April 1998.

· “Covered Bridges – Life Cycle Cost Advantages?”, presentation at the 15^th ASCE Structures Congress, Portland, OR, April 1997.

· "Vermont's Town-owned Covered Bridges – the Rest of the Story", presentation at the 14th Annual International Bridge Conference, Pittsburgh, PA, June 1997.

· “Long-Range Study of Vermont’s Town-Owned Covered Bridges”, presentation at the 11^th Annual International Bridge Conference, Pittsburgh, PA, June 1994.

Selected Publications about covered bridges:

· Covered Bridge Manual, being prepared for publication by FHWA, via a research grant associated with the National Historic Covered Bridge Preservation Program.

· “Rehabilitation of Historic Covered Bridges”, article in Wood Design Focus – A Newsletter of Contemporary Wood Engineering, published by The Forest Products Society, Madison, WI; V.10, N.3, Fall, 1999.

· “Covered Bridges”, Chapter 15 of Timber Construction for Architects and Builders, McGraw-Hill, 1998, edited by Eliot W. Goldstein, AIA.