UB teams up with Calspan

The University at Buffalo is teaming up with a local company to help build better bridges.

UB's center for earthquake engineering research is working with Calspan to construct two "test" bridges.

The pair of 72-foot spans will test how adverse weather conditions and seismic vibrations affect new bridge technologies.

More than a half-million bridges across the country need to be repaired or replaced

"This partnership is very important to both of us, but in my opinion has tremendous benefit to western New York as a whole, by making it the premier destination for full infrastructure testing," said Thomas Pleban, Calspan's Executive Vice President.

The test bridges will be built at Calspan's facility in Ashford and will allow UB researchers to conduct state-of-the-art studies on bridge stability.

Construction is slated to begin this fall.