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Prefabricated Bridge Elements and Systems

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Beaufort and Morehead Railroad Trestle Bridge
Location	Over Newport River between Morehead City and Radio Island
State	NC
Completion Date	1999
Contact Person	John Frye P.E. Project Group Engineer Structure Design Unit North Carolina Department of Transportation Phone: (919) 250-4049 Email: jfrye@dot.state.nc.us
Description	A design-build project consisting of ballasted, precast prestressed T-girders spanning transverse, precast reinforced concrete caps, supported on composite piles (24-inch steel pie piles protected by 36-inch concrete cylinder pile sleeves), this project replaced 2,298 feet of trestle-span approaches on existing alignment on each side of a single-leaf rolling bascule span. Trestle spans were replaced during weekly track outages of 4-day duration. The bridge was designed and constructed to AREMA standards and to meet NCDOT's highly-corrosive coastal environment criteria. All environmental documentation and permits, design, construction, and construction engineering and inspection were done by the design-build team.
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Prefabricated Elements	total
Other Keywords	Steel pipe piles, concrete cylinder piles, prestressed girders,precast prestressed cylinder piles,prestressed 'tee' girders,speed of construction
Advantages	Speed of construction: The trestle was replaced while serving rail traffic, with individual spans replaced between scheduled trains, Minimized traffic disruption, Improved constructibility.
Contract Elements	Lump-sum design-build project
Related Document 1	Photographs (PDF, 0.7 mb) HTML Version
Photo Credits	North Carolina Department of Transportation
Cross Westchester Expressway Viaducts
Location	I-287 in Westchester County 10 miles north of New York City
State	NY
Completion Date	1999
Contact Person	George A. Christian P.E. Acting Director Structures Design and Construction Division New York State Department of Transportation State Campus Building 5, 6th Floor 1220 Washington Avenue Albany NY 12232 Phone: (518) 457-6827 Fax: (518) 485-7826 Email: Gchristian@gw.dot.state.ny.us
Description	Required to maintain six lanes of congested traffic and limit construction on a restricted site during replacement of two major I-287 viaducts in Westchester County, the New York State Department of Transportation accepted the contractor's value-engineering proposal to incorporate precast segmental voided pier sections for each of the 42 piers, which consisted of 8-foot match-cast segments vertically post-tensioned together and to the footings. Piers ranged from 20 to 55 feet in height, and a typical pier could be erected in one day. The proposal also changed the cast-in-place deck to 10-foot-long by 9-inch-thick precast panels, 42 to 50 feet wide to match longitudinal construction stages, supported on pairs of multi-span continuous steel tub girders. Up to 15 panels could be erected in a single shift, with 'in-line' erection methods used where side access was not available. Prior to grouting the panels to the girders, the entire deck was post-tensioned longitudinally in a variable pattern that was designed to provide a zero-tension deck under design live loads. The precast deck and pier construction reduced the contract's original 34-month schedule to 26 months.
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Prefabricated Elements	total
Other Keywords	Precast segmental match-cast pier units; precast longitudinally post-tensioned deck panels; steel tub girders,full-depth deck panels,precast box piers,totally prefabricated bridges
Advantages	Minimized traffic disruption by reducing construction time from 34 to 26 months. Improved constructibility by reducing needed access to a site-restricted expressway.
Contract Elements	"A+B" bidding and incentive/disincentive provisions.
Photo Credits	New York State Department of Transportation
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport People Mover
Location	Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex
State	TX
Completion Date	2004
Contact Person	Katherine Berkenbile P.E. STOA/Carlos + Law, AE Phone: (850) 432-1912 Email: kberkenbile@gcae.com
Description	DFW Airport decided to upgrade its Airport People Mover System in order to accommodate new terminals and increased passenger count. The new People Mover will transport people from the farthest terminals in 11 minutes transport time. The cost per day of casting conventional concrete columns with forms and guy wires for the reinforcing is high due to space that would be used on the airport apron. Instead of closing aircraft terminals and gates, the DFW Airport People Mover Team decided to design and build a precast post-tensioned segmental system of columns.
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Prefabricated Elements	substructure
Other Keywords	Precast post-tensioned segmental columns
Advantages	Allowed the airport apron to remain clear of guy wires. Allowed column construction to happen at night with minimal disruption of airport traffic, Minimized traffic disruption, Improved constructibility.
Photo Credits	STOA/Carlos + Law, AE
Fairgrounds Road Bridge
Location	Between Xenia and Beaverbrook over the Little Miami River
State	OH
Completion Date	2002
Contact Person	Robert Geyer, P.E., P. S. Greene County Engineer, (937) 562-7500
Description	This is a single bridge 226 ft. long and 32 ft. wide with 3 spans. Located between Xenia and Beaverbrook, this 1961 bridge over the Little Miami River needed a new deck. Greene County selected chose prefabrication and fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) for the new deck, which was placed on the existing steel beams and grouted into place. The deck includes 28 full-depth panels, each 32 ft. wide and all but one of the panels 8 ft. long. The panels are covered with variable thickness polymer-modified asphalt. Work started in the spring and completed in June of 2002. Prefabricated elements included full-depth FRP deck panels. Greene County funded this project through federal and state grants, gaining a new bridge that is expected to have a service life longer than the 45-55 years typical for the region.
Prefabricated Elements	full
Other Keywords	fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) deck panels
Advantages	Constructibility
Howell's Mill Bridge
Location	County Road 1 over Mud River in Cabell County
State	WV
Completion Date	2003
Contact Person	Jeff Ball, P.E., West Virginia Department of Transportation, (304) 558-5565
Description	This project provided a full-depth fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) deck on a bridge 245 ft. long and 32.5 ft. wide with 2 spans. When the West Virginia Department of Transportation replaced the entire superstructure for the bridge on County Road 1 over Mud River in Cabell County, project constraints included requirements for accommodation of significant daily traffic. The replacement deck-7,833 sq. ft. FRP deck on weathering steel beams-helped reduce dead load and achieve the shallow superstructure depth required for site constraints. The deck panels were installed in just 3 days, and work completed in July 2003. The deck panels arrived on site in 8-by-32.5-ft. panels with a factory-applied skid-resistant surface that was used as a riding surface during construction. The panels were attached to girders by a shear stud/grout system. Use of prefabricated FRP deck panels ensures a longer-lasting service life for this replacement structure. Immune to chloride ion-induced corrosion, the prefabricated FRP panels are ideal for environments where deicing chemicals are commonly used. The lightweight prefabricated FRP deck panels-at 5,000 lbs, about 20% the weight of concrete panels-were easy to install and required no forms to set or strip. Because the deck panels were prefabricated, quality control and sampling of materials was accomplished at the factory, saving time for the Turman Construction. The easily installed FRP deck panels shortened construction time, making the replacement bridge available to public use more quickly.
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Prefabricated Elements	full
Other Keywords	fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) deck panels
Advantages	Constructibility
Photo Credits	West Virginia Department of Transportation
IH80/Carquinez Strait Bridge
Location	IH80 across the Sacramento River between Crockett and Vallejo
State	CA
Completion Date	2003
Contact Person	California Department of Transportation
Description	This single bridge is 3,465 ft. long with 3 spans. This new Carquinez Strait bridge carries IH80 across the Sacramento River between Crockett and Vallejo and is an important link between Sacramento and the Bay Area. It is the first suspension bridge in the US with concrete towers. The bridge has two batter-leg concrete frame towers with classic draped cables and vertical suspender ropes to support the steel box girder deck. Each tower is supported by 12 drilled shafts that terminate in pile caps below sea level. The high cap position and deep water precluded use of conventional cofferdams, so the contractor provided a prefabricated, float-in cofferdam system. Designed as thin precast concrete shells in the shape of the specified pile caps, the cofferdams had corrugated block-outs in the bottom to allow the drilled shaft to fit up into the cap while remaining water-tight during the float-in. While the drilled shafts were installed, the cofferdams were cast on a barge deck and launched. Crews then cut the drilled shaft casings off underwater and floated the cofferdams into place. After sealing the cofferdams to the shaft casings, crews dewatered the cofferdam to allow extension of the drilled shaft reinforcing cages and then cast the pile caps. Construction completed in late 2003. This project used prefabricated cofferdams that functioned as float-in pile-cap shells. For the California Department of Transportation, use of prefabricated cofferdams expedited construction of the bridge and will increase the service life of the IH80 crossing. For the contractors, FCI Constructors and Cleveland Bridge California, use of prefabricated cofferdams greatly improved constructibility and work-zone safety.
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Prefabricated Elements	pier
Other Keywords	Cofferdam system,precast bent caps
Advantages	Constructibility
Photo Credits	FCI Constructors, Inc.
Kouwegok Slough Bridge
Location	Unalakleet
State	AK
Completion Date	2000
Contact Person	Elmer Marx, P.E.; Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, (907) 465-6941
Description	This is one bridge 378 ft. long and 25 ft. wide with 3 spans (25-ft center span and 114-ft end spans). Located in Unalakleet on Norton Sound in Alaska, this bridge is typical in style of bridges built in remote location within the state. Its substructure consists of pipe pile extensions that support a precast concrete pile cap beam, and its superstructure consists of rolled wide flange beams that support prefabricated full-depth concrete deck panels. Materials had to be delivered by a barge that could not operate until after July 1st because Norton Sound was frozen. The new bridge was open to traffic in August 2000, 55 days after materials were unloaded from the barge. Prefabrication for this bridge included precast concrete pile cap beams and full-depth deck panels.
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Prefabricated Elements	total
Other Keywords	totally prefabricated bridges
Advantages	Constructibility
Photo Credits	Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities
Lavaca Bay Causeway
Location	Between Port Lavaca and Point Comfort, over the Lavaca Bay
State	TX
Completion Date	1961
Contact Person	Bruce Bayless P.E. District Engineer Yoakum District Texas Department of Transportation Phone: (361) 293-4300 Email: mbayles@dot.state.tx.us
Description	Completed in 1961, the bridge that carries SH 35 across Lavaca Bay is the longest bridge in Texas, spanning 11,900 feet. The bridge contains two 26-foot roadway slabs and a raised 6-foot median, making the four-lane highway a total of 63 feet wide. Precasting occurred on the shore near the construction site. Precast girder, slab, diaphragm, center median, curb, sidewalk, and parapet wall units were precast on shore, barged into position between bents, and then lowered into place hydraulically. Each roadway slab weighed 150 tons.
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Prefabricated Elements	superstructure
Other Keywords	Girder/slab/diaphragm/center median/curb/sidewalk/parapet walls precast and later prestressed as a single unit, precast monolithic beams,precast prestressed deck composite units,prefabricated total superstructure,total superstructure prefabrication
Advantages	Constructibility
Contract Elements	"Lavaca Bay Causeway"
Related Document 1	"Texas' Longest Bridge Dedicated"
Lewis and Clark Bridge
Location	SR 433 across the Columbia River between Oregon and Washington State
State	WA
Completion Date	2004
Contact Person	Jerry Weigel, P.E., Washington State Department of Transportation, (360) 705-7207
Description	This full-depth precast deck replacement was for a steel truss bridge 5,478 ft. long and 34 ft. wide with 34 spans. A joint project by the Oregon and Washington Departments of Transportation to widen and replace the deteriorating deck on this historic 1929 steel truss bridge allowed full closures between 9:30 pm and 5:30 am for only 120 nights, plus 4 weekend closures. Alternative plans to replace the bridge deck would have required replacing it lane by lane (4 years), full closure of the bridge for several months, or full closure every weekend for 6 months. The contractor was able to meet scheduling constraints by using prefabricated deck panels-a large transport device moved the new panel to the top of the bridge, removed the old panel that crews had just cut out, and then lowered the new panel into place before taking the old panel off the bridge. Work will be completed by December 2004. The majority of the existing bridge deck was replaced with precast concrete deck panels made of lightweight concrete with a modified concrete overlay supported by two longitudinal steel stringers with intermediate transverse stringers. The bridge also used prefabricated widening sections supported by a single longitudinal steel girder. In addition, the project included precast approach slabs. Oregon and WS DOT extended the life of the bridge by an estimated 25 years. In addition, prefabrication allowed inspection of the new deck before installation without use of specialized equipment. For Max J. Kuney Company of Spokane, use of prefabricated elements and systems reduced workers exposure to traffic during construction and improved the constructibility of the bridge. Use of prefabrication allowed the bridge to remain open for normal weekday operation, particularly important for traffic related to the Port of Longview.
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Prefabricated Elements	full
Other Keywords	full-depth deck panels
Advantages	Minimized traffic disruption, constructibility, work-zone safety
Photo Credits	Washington State Department of Transportation
Main Street over Metro North Railroad
Location	Tuckahoe
State	NY
Completion Date	2000
Contact Person	George A. Christian P.E. Acting Director Structures Design and Construction Division New York State Department of Transportation State Campus Building 5, 6th Floor 1220 Washington Avenue Albany NY 12232 Phone: (518) 457-6827 Fax: (518) 485-7826 Email: Gchristian@gw.dot.state.ny.us
Description	Replacement of a through-girder bridge over a busy commuter railroad in the village of Tuckahoe presented challenges for NYSDOT: maintaining two way traffic, conducting all work between 2 and 4 AM on weekends to limit disruptions for rail commuters and adjacent stores, maintaining utility lines while relocating them on the new bridge, and raising the railroad vertical clearance five inches without affecting the street profile. NYSDOT chose a commercial system of precast prestressed concrete/steel composite superstructure modules that allowed for smaller beams than conventional construction, which helped attain the increased vertical clearance and had a short installation time.
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Prefabricated Elements	superstructure
Other Keywords	Precast prestressed concrete and steel composite superstructure units,precast prestressed deck composite units,prefabricated total superstructure,total superstructure prefabrication
Advantages	Improved constructibility by allowing staged construction over a busy commuter railroad, Minimized traffic disruption.
Photo Credits	New York State Department of Transportation
Market Street Bridge
Location	Wheeling
State	WV
Completion Date	2001
Contact Person	Benjamin Beerman, P.E., West Virginia Department of Transportation (304) 558-2830
Description	This bridge is 180 ft. 6 in. long with a single span 177 ft. long. The project was a deck replacement. The structure has fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) sidewalks and a half-inch wearing surface of polyurethane concrete and granite chips.
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Prefabricated Elements	full
Other Keywords	fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) deck panels
Advantages	Constructibility
Photo Credits	West Virginia Department of Transportation
Mississippi River Bridge
Location	US 14/61/WIS 16 over the Mississippi River
State	WI
Completion Date	2003
Contact Person	Stephen Flottmeyer, P.E., Wisconsin Department of Transportation, (608) 785-9075
Description	This bridge is 2,573 ft long and 50 ft. wide with 475-ft steel arch center span with a totally prefabricated superstructure system. To provide safer and more efficient access to downtown La Crosse and into Minnesota, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) decided to build a new bridge across the Mississippi River, changing US 14/61/WIS 16 from a two-lane to a four-lane facility. WisDOT opted to use a central prefabricated tied arch section and float it into place before connecting it to the permanent bridge piers. The arch was installed on December 17th, 2003. The bridge elements were fabricated 90 miles from the site in pieces manageable for shipping and erection. They were then assembled entirely off site on barges. The 475-ft long and 87-ft high center-span steel arch superstructure was finally floated into place. The prefabrication allowed WisDOT to keep the main channel of the Mississippi River open to all river traffic during construction per Coast Guard requirements. It also allowed the contractor to work on both the river piers and the arch simultaneously, speeding the construction schedule. Contract specification did not allow temporary falsework structures in the Mississippi River during navigation season. Erecting the tied arch on barges allowed Lunda Construction Company crews to work during favorable weather without interference with river navigation. Use of prefabrication minimized impact on the community, speeding construction of the bridge and limiting disruption of river traffic.
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Prefabricated Elements	superstructure
Other Keywords	totally prefabricated bridges
Advantages	Minimized traffic disruption, constructibility
Photo Credits	Wisconsin Department of Transportation
Pelican Creek Bridge
Location	Chichagof Island
State	AK
Completion Date	1992
Contact Person	Mike Higgs, P.E., Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, (907) 465-8896
Description	This bridge has precast decked double-tee girders with precast caps and steel piles. It is one bridge 178 ft. long and 18 ft. wide with 3 spans. A small fishing community on Chicagof Island in southeast Alaska needed a new bridge quickly after buying a fire truck that was too heavy for their old timber bridge. Construction requirements included staying out of the sensitive creek bed and completing work within a short time defined by the Department of Fish and Game. The Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities chose a totally prefabricated bridge with all material, including rock for the approach fill, barged to the work site. The contractor floated in barges at high tide and anchored them in the creek. Crews drove steel piles from barges, drove a large wheeled crane onto the barges, and then used the crane to install first caps and then decked double-tee girders, post-tensioning the diaphragms. No heavy equipment was lodged in the creek bed. All construction completed in approximately 5 weeks in 1992. Alaska DOT regularly uses decked bulb-tee girder bridges consisting of precast, prestressed girders cast with an integral deck to form a "T" shaped beam. The maximum span length is 145 ft. The superstructures are often installed in 1-2 days for a typical highway bridge. Prefabrication provided ADOT with a new bridge with a longer service life and lower maintenance costs, and it facilitated safe construction in a sensitive environment. Total prefabrication improved constructibility for Trucano Construction crews and reduced labor costs. Residents of the island got a new bridge quickly constructed and strong enough to support their civic vehicles.
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Prefabricated Elements	total
Other Keywords	totally prefabricated bridges
Advantages	Minimized environmental disruption, constructibility
Contract Elements	Superstructure Detail Sheet
Photo Credits	Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities
Richmond-San Rafael Bridge
Location	On I-580 between Richmond and San Rafael
State	CA
Completion Date	2004
Contact Person	Inyang, P.E., California Department of Transportation, (510) 231-7828
Description	This precast superstructure system with precast caps hells and piles includes 2 bridges 3,624 ft. and 2,843 ft. long and 44 ft. wide. These 1956 bridges connect Marin and Contra Costa Counties in California. When heavy traffic and exposure to the marine environment necessitated replacement of the existing structures on the same alignments, the California Department of Transportation selected prefabrication. Allowing two lanes of traffic on both structures at all times during the day, the construction sequence closes one structure for 10 hours maximum at night. Crews install new piles outside the travel lanes of the existing bridge, install new precast prestressed bent cap shells on the piles, and pour concrete and then prestress the caps. Then crews start from the abutment using a barge-mounted crane to sequentially replace the superstructure. Two spans totaling 100 ft of existing superstructure are lifted out, and a new span is installed. Crews then install a 25-ft transition span to close the offset between new and old bents, and by morning traffic is running again. After installing four new spans, crews stress them together to make a 400-ft. continuous unit. Work on the westbound bridge will complete in Fall 2004, and work on the eastbound bridge will complete in Spring 2005. This project uses 500-ton 100-ft precast superstructure system, precast prestressed cap shells, and piles. The use of prefabrication provided the California Department of Transportation with a new bridge that meets seismic codes with minimal traffic disruption. By fabricating off site, Tutor Saliba/Koch/Tidewater JV was better able to control quality and safety. Prefabrication enables users to access the bridge constantly, with limited disruption only at night.
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Prefabricated Elements	total
Other Keywords	totally prefabricated bridges
Advantages	Minimized traffic disruption, constructibility
Photo Credits	California Department of Transportation
Route 9/Metro North Pedestrian Bridge
Location	Croton-on-the-Hudson
State	NY
Completion Date	1998
Contact Person	George A. Christian P.E. Acting Director Structures Design and Construction Division New York State Department of Transportation State Campus Building 5, 6th Floor 1220 Washington Avenue Albany NY 12232 Phone: (518) 457-6827 Fax: (518) 485-7826 Email: Gchristian@gw.dot.state.ny.us
Description	Building a pedestrian bridge in the village of Croton-on-the-Hudson involved site restrictions, a requirement for aesthetic design, and the need to limit disruption on a heavily traveled highway and a major commuter railroad. NYSDOT chose two commercial prefabricated composite superstructure spans with concrete parapets to bridge the 4-lane highway, service road, and five sets of railroad tracks. Twelve-inch diameter precast piles support 3-section piers made of precast boxes stacked vertically and post-tensioned to a cast-in-place concrete footing. Ramps are 35-foot-long precast concrete units and 20-foot precast stair sections, supported directly on precast columns with cast-in-place seats. Precast concrete's many available architectural treatments enabled meeting project aesthetic goals.
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Prefabricated Elements	total
Other Keywords	Precast prestressed concrete/steel superstructure units; precast box pier units; precast prestressed cylinder piles; precast ramp sections; precast stair sections; precast crash walls;concrete cylinder pile,precast box piers,precast prestressed deck composite units,prefabricated total superstructure,total superstructure prefabrication,totally prefabricated bridges
Advantages	Improved constructibility and minimized disruption of traffic by reducing the staging area required and reducing construction time, Minimized traffic disruption.
Photo Credits	New York State Department of Transportation
SH 36 over Lake Belton
Location	Near Waco
State	TX
Completion Date	2004
Contact Person	Lloyd M. Wolf P.E. Design Branch Manager Bridge Division Texas Department of Transportation 125 E. 11th Street Austin TX 78701 Phone: (512) 416-2279 Fax: (512) 416-2557 Email: lwolf@dot.state.tx.us
Description	Because of fluctuating water surface elevations on the lake and uncertainties about performance of underwater precast column joints, designers chose a cast-in-place twin-column arrangement for replacement of the Lake Belton bridge. Twin bridges will be 3,840 feet long with 62 identical precast interior bent caps. The hammerhead bents will be some of the highest-moment-demand cap-to-column connections used yet with precast caps in Texas, presenting new design challenges. TxDOT bridge designers are developing design procedures extended for high-moment-demand connections. TxDOT has funded a 2002 Research Implementation Project to adapt and implement guidelines for multi-column bent cap connections to single-column, high-moment-demand connections and to continue development of specifications addressing grout placement, segregation, and durability.
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Prefabricated Elements	partial, pier
Other Keywords	Precast bent caps; precast prestressed deck panels; precast prestressed U-beams,precast deck panels with topping slab,precast pretensioned partial-depth deck panels
Advantages	Constructibility: A primary source of water for Waco and an important flood control resource for the area, Lake Belton's water level is highly variable, as much as 48 ft, reaching as high as the bottom of the bridge's beams on occasion. Using precast components limits construction dependence on the lake level.
Related Document 1	Interior Bent with Precast Cap and High-Moment Connection (PDF, 1.1 mb) HTML Version: Sheet 1 Sheet 2 Sheet 3 Sheet 4 Sheet 5
Photo Credits	Texas Department of Transportation
SH 361 over Redfish Bay and Morris-Cummings Cut
Location	Aransas County
State	TX
Completion Date	1994
Contact Person	Lloyd M. Wolf P.E. Design Branch Manager Bridge Division Texas Department of Transportation 125 E. 11th Street Austin TX 78701 Phone: (512) 416-2279 Fax: (512) 416-2557 Email: lwolf@dot.state.tx.us
Description	This project required construction of two bridges over Redfish Bay (2,020 ft.) and the Morris-Cummings Cut (415 ft.), posing the challenge of over water work on the Texas Gulf Coast. The design included precast piling as well as a precast double-tee superstructure with 44 identical bent caps, which the contractor requested to precast. Bent caps were fabricated in Corpus Christi and used epoxy-coated reinforcing to protect against corrosion in the marine environment. They were transported by barge to the bridge site and then lifted into place over epoxy-coated reinforcing steel hairpin bars embedded in the piling to form the connections. The interface between pile and the bottom of the cap was sealed, and concrete was placed through the slot in the top of the cap to complete the connection.
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Prefabricated Elements	partial, pier
Other Keywords	Precast bent caps; precast piling,precast concrete piles/columns,precast deck panels with topping slab,precast pretensioned partial-depth deck panels
Advantages	Constructibility: Using precast caps limited the amount of time required for over water work on the Texas Gulf Coast. Minimized Traffic Disruption: Using precast caps reduced project duration by about 40%.
Related Document 1	Precast Bent Caps for SH 361 over Redfish Bay and Morris-Cummings Cut (PDF, 0.5 mb) HTML Version: Sheet 1 Sheet 2 Sheet 3
Photo Credits	Texas Department of Transportation
SH 66 over Lake Ray Hubbard
Location	Near Dallas
State	TX
Completion Date	2002
Contact Person	Lloyd M. Wolf P.E. Design Branch Manager Bridge Division Texas Department of Transportation 125 E. 11th Street Austin TX 78701 Phone: (512) 416-2279 Fax: (512) 416-2557 Email: lwolf@dot.state.tx.us
Description	After 40 years of service, the narrow two-lane crossing of SH 66 over Lake Ray Hubbard had become a congested route for commuters in the suburbs east of Dallas and needed to be replaced. In 2000, construction began on a pair of conventional prestressed concrete I beam bridges with lengths of 10,280 and 4,360 feet. After the project was let for construction, the contractor asked to precast the substructure bent caps as an alternative to the original design of cast-in-place multi-column bents to reduce the amount of time the workers would need to operate near power lines. TxDOT designed a precast bent cap option that included a cap-to-column connection and a specific construction procedure that allowed early placement of caps and prestressed beams based on achieved cap concrete and cap grout connection strength. The connection design included reinforcing steel dowel bars that protrude from the columns into the precast caps via open plastic ducts that are grouted after cap placement. On this project a total of 43 bent caps will be precast.
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Prefabricated Elements	partial, pier
Other Keywords	Precast bent caps; precast prestressed deck panels; precast prestressed I-beams
Advantages	Work zone safety: reduced amount of time required for work near power lines and reduced work time overwater (80% of work on caps was done on the ground).; Minimized traffic disruption: Using precast caps produced a saving of 5-7 days per cap, distributed across activities associated with formwork, curing, steel, inspection, and bearing seats.; Improved constructibility.
Related Document 1	Precast Bent Cap Column (Square and Round) Drawings (PDF, 0.6 mb) HTML Version: Sheet 1 - Square Sheet 2 - Round
Related Document 2	Precast Bent Cap Detail Drawings (PDF, 0.9 mb) HTML Version: Sheet 1 Sheet 2 Sheet 3
Photo Credits	Texas Department of Transportation
US 59 under Dunlavy, Hazard, Mandel and Woodhead Streets
Location	Houston
State	TX
Completion Date	1995
Contact Person	John P. Vogel P.E. Bridge Design Engineer Houston District Texas Department of Transportation 8100 Washington Avenue Houston TX 77251-1386 Phone: (713) 802-5235 Fax: (713) 802-5350 Email: jvogel1@dot.state.tx.us
Description	In the mid-1990's, widening of US 59 from six to ten lanes, including two high-occupancy-vehicle lanes, required replacement of bridges connecting streets in four Houston neighborhoods. Project challenges included neighborhood displeasure with proposed disruptions during on-site construction and restrictive clearances beneath the bridges. To maintain freeway traffic under the bridges and allow city street traffic over US 59 while removing and replacing the bridges, TxDOT provided attractive tied arch bridges, structures that suspend a thin slab from two tied arches 45 feet apart. The existing bridges were used as work platforms for erecting the arches, and the slabs were precast in segments and then bolted to erection beams to eliminate the need for falsework under the bridge during construction.
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Prefabricated Elements	full
Other Keywords	Precast prestressed deck panels
Advantages	Minimized traffic disruption and improved constructibility: Restrictive clearances beneath the bridges made construction of falsework difficult without closing US 59.
Photo Credits	Texas Department of Transportation