Prefabricated Bridge Elements and Systems
NASA Road 1 over I-45 | |
|---|---|
| Location | Houston |
| State | TX |
| Completion Date | 2002 |
| 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 | For replacement of this four-span, two-lane, freeway overpass, the existing profile grade could not be raised. Designers chose box beams, which provided a shallow structure depth and eliminated most deck formwork. Careful control of pile leads for plumb during 24-inch pile driving in soft clay allowed placement of piles without templates to within 2 inches of plan location. High-performance concrete was used to pour shear keys between the beams and the concrete wearing surface, and use of a concrete wearing surface readily accounted for differential beam camber. Bridge railing was slip-formed as soon as the composite concrete wearing surface achieved strength. All construction occurred during short-duration, partial, phased road closures. The existing low-clearance bridge was demolished and the new bridge completed in 10 days. |
| Photo |  |
| Prefabricated Elements | total |
| Other Keywords | Precast piles/columns; precast prestressed beams,precast concrete piles/columns,precast prestressed box beams |
| Advantages | Minimized traffic disruption: Trestle piles could be driven in the soft Houston clay faster than shafts could be drilled and columns poured. |
| Contract Elements | Calendar-day definition of working day, incentive/disincentive contract, milestone completion of project phases, delayed start time to allow for fabrication of precast elements. |
| Related Document 1 | NASA Road 1 over I-45 Bridge Layout (PDF, 0.3 mb) HTML Version |
| Related Document 2 | Keys to Project Success |
| Related Document 3 | High-Performance Mix Designs |
| Photo Credits | Texas Department of Transportation |
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