US Army orders two thermoplastic bridges

BASKING RIDGE, N.J. (Nov. 12, 5:05 p.m. ET) -- A maker of thermoplastic bridges strong enough to hold military tanks has found a repeat customer in the U.S. Army.

The Army has ordered two railroad bridges for Fort Eustis in Newport News, Va., home of the U.S. Army Transportation Corps., for $957,000.

These new bridges will set the bar for load capacities on bridges made from plastics, with load ratings of 130 tons.

Bridges built recently in Fort Bragg, N.C., using profiles from Basking Ridge, N.J.-based Axion International Inc. had load ratings of 73 tons for tracked vehicles and 88 tons for wheeled vehicles.

In June, the Army drove an M1 Abrams tank weighing more than 140,000 pounds across one of them.

The technology uses 100 percent recycled content — about two thirds post-consumer polyethylene bottles and one-third automotive bumper scrap — to extrude I-beams and T-beams designed to replace steel and wood in bridge applications.

“This sizeable contract represents the perfect marriage of two of our core infrastructure products — bridges and railroad crossties,” said Jim Kerstein, Axion’s CEO, in a news release. “Not only will the bridges be constructed using our proprietary Recycled Structural Composite technology, the railroad crossties will also be made out of virtually 100-percent recycled consumer and industrial plastics.”

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