Journal of JSCE, Vol. 6, 49-68, 2018 ON ORTHOTROPIC STEEL DECK PAVEMENT OF SUEZ CANAL BRIDGE Tsuyoshi MATSUMOTO1, Tatsuo MUKOYAMA2, Eiji YONEZAWA3, Takefumi YAMAZAKI4 and Takayuki FUJITA5 1Member of JSCE, International Dept. CHODAI Co., LTD. (2-6-6, Moto-Asakusa, Taito-ku, Tokyo 111-0041, Japan) E-mail:
[email protected] 2Member of JSCE, Oriental Consultants Global Co., LTD. (3-20-2, Nishishinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 163-1409, Japan) E-mail:
[email protected] 3Member of JSCE, Oriental Consultants Global Co., LTD. (3-20-2, Nishishinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 163-1409, Japan) E-mail:
[email protected] 4Member of JSCE, International Dept. CHODAI Co., LTD. (730 Higashi Hiratsuka Tsukuba-City, Ibaraki-Pref. 305-0812, Japan) E-mail:
[email protected] 5Overseas Projects Dept. Nippon Engineering Consultants Co., LTD. (3-23-1, Toshima-ku, Tokyo 170-0003, Japan) E-mail:
[email protected] The Suez Canal Bridge was constructed through a grant aid from Japan and completed in September 2001. Stone Mastic Asphalt pavement (SMA) was adopted over the orthotropic steel deck of this bridge because SMA was utilized for the orthotropic steel deck in Japan and SMA did not need any special ma- chines, which were indispensable for the Gussasphalt Pavement ((nonporous) mastic asphalt pavement) and were unavailable in Egypt. After the bridge opening, however, hair cracks on pavement began to appear from June 2002 due to overloading of vehicles whose axle weights sometimes exceeded 25t. Upon advice from Japan, the General Authority for Roads, Bridges and Land Transport (GARBLT) limited the axle weight of vehicles to 13t.