Dagher named Maine's 2019 'transportation champion'
Courtesy / University of Maine
Habib Dagher, center, receives the 2019 Transportation Champion award from the Maine Better Transportation Association on Oct 4. Presenting the award is MBTA President Paul Bradbury, right, and Brit Svoboda, left, chairman and CEO of AIT Bridges.
Habib Dagher, executive director of the University of Maine Advanced Structures and Composites Center, was recognized as the 2019 Transportation Champion by the Maine Better Transportation Association during an award ceremony Oct. 4 in Freeport.
The group presented the award to Dagher for his founding of the composites center, a National Science Foundation-funded program housed in a 100,000-square-foot laboratory, which has grown from a staff of four to over 240 under his tenure, according to a news release.
In addition, the award recognized Dagher’s leadership developing the composite arch bridge system known as Bridge-in-a-Backpack and a composite girder system, the CT Girder, as well as for directing the Transportation Infrastructure Durability Center. The mission of the durability center is to develop innovative, sustainable, next-generation solutions to extend the lifespan of roads, bridges and other transportation assets.
“I am truly humbled by the award and thank the MBTA,” Dagher said in the release. “The award belongs to all of the world-class faculty, staff and thousands of students who have worked at the center, as well as our partners at the Maine DOT, government and industry.”
Innovative systems
Bridge-in-a-Backpack is a lightweight, corrosion-resistant, cost-effective system for short- to medium-span bridge construction. The system uses composite arch tubes that act as reinforcement and forms for cast-in-place concrete. The arches can be easily transported and deployed, and do not require the heavy equipment or large crews needed to handle the weight of traditional construction materials. The system can extend the structural life of a bridge up to 100 years.
The CT Girder, an extension of the Bridge-in-a-Backpack technology, provides an affordable, long-term enhancement to traditional steel and concrete medium-span deck bridges. It consists of lightweight composite tub girders with a precast or cast-in-place concrete deck. The lightweight bridge system is designed to last 100 years with little to no maintenance and is targeted to be used for highway bridges, pedestrian bridges and military applications.
The award was presented to Dagher by Brit Svoboda, chairman and CEO of AIT Bridges, the company commercializing the Bridge-in-a-Backpack and CT Girder. In his remarks, Svoboda spoke of the influence the UMaine Composites Center has, not just in developing bridge technologies, but other innovations with global impact and the training of more than 2,400 professionals.
Svoboda noted Dagher’s history of innovation, including being named on more than 40 patents and being honored as a White House Transportation Champion of Change. AIT Bridges is hiring 40 to 50 employees, many of whom will likely be University of Maine graduates.
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