Challenge

Transportation agencies must build or replace thousands of bridges in the coming years while balancing the need to reduce congestion and increase worker and traveler safety. Through programs like FHWA’s Every Day Counts, agencies have learned about accelerated bridge construction (ABC) methods and prefabricated bridge elements and systems (PBES) and have mainly applied them on a bridge-by-bridge basis. There has not, to date, been an effort to apply standardized designs widely. A standardized approach could reduce the cost of PBES projects. If this type of construction were to become commonplace for bridges, standard sections and shapes for deck panels, columns, footings, abutments, and approach slabs could be fabricated economically and quickly to make prefabrication an even more appealing option for bridge owners.