Could this Rutgers lab hold the key to fixing America's crumbling bridges?

Rutgers University's brand new accelerated testing facility for bridges could save billions in infrastructure costs Watch video

PISCATAWAY -- Meet The BEAST, a 120 feet long, 30 feet tall, bright yellow and white monster, that sits outside the Rutgers Asphalt Pavement Laboratory on Rutgers' Livingston Campus. 

The Bridge Evaluation and Accelerated Structural Testing lab is the brain-child of the Rutgers Center for Advanced Infrastructure and Transportation, and could very well hold the key to fixing the nation's crumbling bridges.

The center says there's nothing else like it on the planet, and if the researchers and engineers behind its creation have their way, it will revolutionize the world's understanding of bridge performance.

How? By allowing researchers to take replicas of real bridges and superstructures and expedite the process of wear-and-tear on them -- shrinking decades of aging from both the environment and heavy traffic into just a few months.

"In the past the bridge community didn't have the ability to accurately predict the future performance of individual structures or the complete bridge system," said Robert Clark, division administrator for the Federal Highway Administration. "The good news? That was yesterday. Today we have the BEAST."

Clark spoke at the university's unveiling on Wednesday afternoon.

Invitees were treated to a tour of the BEAST, down in the chambers below the structure, so they could get a better understanding of its anatomy.

There, in the belly of the BEAST, a device similar to a truck chassis sat on an elevated bridge slab surrounded by four large air vents.

When the BEAST is active, the chassis moves back and forth at 20 miles per hour to replicate heavy truck traffic. In 24 hours, the chassis will make over 17,000 passes, applying twice the weight a legal tractor-trailer can carry.

The truck chassis of the BEAST sits on an elevated bridge slab.(Photo by Adya Beasley | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com) 

All the while, the four air units will work to fluctuate the temperature inside the chamber, exposing the sample to extreme cold and intense heat.

The system can even simulate rain and harsh de-icing treatments.

"We could essentially create temperatures in Alaska or we can create temperatures that are very similar to Florida," said Andres Roda, a CAIT research engineer. "We'll be able to go ahead and replicate that and come up with different scenarios for different bridges in different zones."

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CAIT and its partners on the project hope the data provided by the BEAST will prove essential to solving the nation's crumbling infrastructure by helping engineers and managers understand the durability of materials and find the best ways to preserve and rehabilitate existing structures.

"This is a major game changer," said Franklin Moon, Drexel University civil engineering professor and CAIT affiliated researcher, "for the first time we are shrinking that feedback loop and so we're gaining access to technology today."

That access to new technologies and information will save money and lives, Moon said.

The Federal Highway administration estimates that more than 30 percent of all U.S. bridges have exceeded their 50-year design life and according to the American Road & Transportation Builders Association there are over 63,000 structurally compromised bridges in the U.S.

(L-R) Kevin Womack of USDOT, Assemblyman John J. Wisniewski (D-Middlesex), and CAIT Director Ali Maher at the unveiling of the BEAST. (Photo by Adya Beasley | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

FHWA says it would take over $20 billion a year to eliminate the backlog of deficient bridges by 2028.

"Having this kind of tool that will help us understand how to best allocate what are admittedly scarce dollars is one of the most important things that we can do," said Assemblyman John J. Wisniewski (D-Middlesex), chair of the Assembly's transportation committee.

"We have the tools necessary to make sure that our investments are wise, prudent and will last for a long time." Wisniewski said. "New Jersey will once again lead not only the nation but the world in transportation research and innovation and it starts here at Rutgers University."

Adya Beasley may be reached at abeasley@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @adyabeasley. Find NJ.com on Facebook.