Deck Widening and Replacement of Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge
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Deck Widening and Replacement of Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge James G. Lutz Projects Director Greiner Engineering Sciences, Inc. Baltimore, Maryland Dino J. Scalia Quality Assurance Manager Shockey Bros., Inc. Winchester, Virginia he Woodrow Wilson Memorial approach spans vary from 62 to 184 f! T Bridge on I-95 spans the Potomac (18.9 to 56.1 m). Floor beams between River south of Washington, D.C. (Fig. girders are spaced approximately 16 to 1). As shown in Fig. 2, it is the southern 26 ft (4.88 to 7.92 m) on centers and carry crossing of the Potomac on the Capital five rolled beam stringers per roadway, Beltway (1-95 and I-495). continuous over the floor beams, The bridge was constructed between The 89 ft (27.1 m) wide original ap- 1959 and 1962 for the Federal Highway proach deck shown in Fig. 3 was sub- Administration, the owner of the struc- divided by a longitudinal centerline ture. It is operated and maintained roadway joint. Each side of the deck jointly by the State of Maryland, the provided a three-lane roadway 38 ft District of Columbia, and the Com- (11.6 m) wide, sloped to the exterior monwealth of Virginia. curb on tangent, one-half of a 4 ft (1.22 This 5900 ft (1798 m) low level bridge m) raised median, a 3 ft (0.91 m) safety includes eight steel deck girder ap- walk, and a 1 ft 6 in. (0.46 m) concrete proach units on the Virginia side, a parapet with aluminum handrail. A 212-ft (64.6 m) double-leaf bascule span double-faced precast concrete median over the river channel, and ten steel safety barrier, held in place by bolts deck girder approach units on the through the longitudinal joint, was Maryland side. Most approach units are added after the original construction. four-girder continuous multispan units. This reinforced concrete deck system, The spans flanking the bascule span are hearing on the stringers and the exterior three-girder simple spans. Individual girders, was noncomposite. The road- 74 Several innovative construction techniques were used in replacing the deck of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge with lightweight precast concrete deck panels. Rehabilitation was completed 8 months ahead of schedule, $6 million under budget, and without disrupting the flow of traffic. Fig. 1. South elevation of Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge from Virginia shore. `. ҟMARYLAND 2lgC "WASHINGTON`\ҟDS 50 f` ^^ҟD.C. t-6ҟ a``^Ch VIRGINIA 3°}^ҟ^^ v a j WOODROW WILSON i Y MEMORIAL BRIDGE Fig. 2. Location map, Washington, D.C. and vicinity. PCI JOURNAL/May-June 1984 ҟ 75 44: 38' 0° ROADWAY . 4-0" 38' 0" ROADWAY 25'-8" 25'-8" 25-8" 89'_0° Fig. 3. Original superstructure and deck construction. way wearing surface was 2 in. (51 mm) and construction time and cost esti- of asphaltic concrete. Approach grades mates. are 1.5 percent and there is a 39-minute All basic design methods involved horizontal curve on the Virginia side of removal of deck and stringers, and re- the river. placement with prefabricated units of By 1977, peak daily traffic on the deck and revised stringers. For the two structure exceeded 110,000 vehicles, wider roadways, floor beam extensions with hourly directional totals as high as were proposed. The report was accepted 5000 vehicles during morning and eve- with the understanding that further ning rush hours, Breakdowns and acci- studies would be made prior to final dents were creating significant delays. design. At this time, serious deterioration of the reinforced concrete deck was evident. Maintenance and repair compounded the delay problems. FINAL DESIGN Under an agreement with the Federal In October 1979, the Maryland State Highway Administration, the Maryland Highway Administration contracted State Highway Administration con- with Greiner Engineering Sciences, tracted with consulting engineers Mod- Inc. to conduct additional studies and jeski and Masters "to prepare a feasibil- perform the final designs for the re- ity report evaluating at least four decking of the Woodrow Wilson Memo- methods of replacing the existing con- rial Bridge. crete deck while traffic is being main- tained." The feasibility report included maintenance of traffic plans; three Criteria schemes for construction; six basic de- Safe maintenance of six lanes of traffic sign methods involving 38, 42, and 45 ft during peak hours, four or five lanes (11.6, 12.8, and 13.7 m) roadway widths; during off-peak daytime hours, and one 76 Fig. 4. Nighttime deck replacement progresses on left roadway while two-way tratnc is maintained on right roadway. The center lane on the right roadway provides a buffer for signing and emergencies. lane in each direction during the night- quired only one pattern of tapers, time periods, when two lanes would be merges and median crossovers through- adequate, were mandatory. The deck out the construction of each roadway. had to be designed for high speed inter- Opposing traffic in the maintenance of state system traffic in accordance with traffic roadway was confined to the out- the AASHTO Standard Specifications side and median lanes by nonroll drums for Highway Bridges (HS2O-44). Widen- with steady lights, leaving the center ing was desired, but modifications and lane clear for a buffer, signing and strengthening of the existing steel emergencies. superstructure were to be kept to a A continuous precast concrete dou- minimum. For riding quality and as part ble-faced safety barrier separated op- of a program to protect the structure, posing traffic during the six-lane day- roadway joints were to he kept to a time operations. Channelization of traf- minimum. fic through the on-grade centerline crossover each night required relocation of 400 ft (122 m) of this barrier at each Maintenance of Traffic end of the bridge each evening and re- The final design for maintenance of placement each morning. traffic during nighttime deck replace- ment provided single lane two-way traf- Replacement Deck System fic on one roadway for the full length of the bridge while work progressed in the The replacement deck system pro- other roadway (Fig. 4). This diversion vides two 44 ft (13.4 m) roadways in the pattern was almost 16,000 ft (4877 m) approach spans. Sixty-to-one tapers in long and extended into the interchanges the spans adjacent to the bascule flank- in close proximity to each abutment. It ing spans provide transitions to 41 ft allowed the contractor access along the (12.5 in) wide roadways through the full roadway being replaced and re- bascule area where the width increase PCI JOURNAL/May-June 1984 77 46-7 1/4" A 114 8„ҟL710 HOLD DOWNS I I" AT STRINGERS VARIES 10-12" SECTION A-A Fig. 5. Typical precast lightweight concrete panel. was limited by structural considerations REPLACEMENT SYSTEM and the proximity of the operating tower. The exterior parapets are precast FEATURES lightweight concrete safety type and the Described below are the precast deck precast concrete double-faced safety panels, the use of polymer concrete and barriers added to the original bridge mortar, and the protective measures have been reused as the median barrier. employed. The deck is constructed of full road- way width, precast, transversely post- tensioned, lightweight concrete panels, Precast Deck Panels longitudinally post-tensioned in place The typical lightweight concrete into segments generally of the same panel is 46 ft 7/ in. (14.2 m) wide, 10 to length as the continuous girder units. 12 ft (3.05 to 3.66 m) long and 8 in. (203 The panels are supported on the original mm) thick with a 5 in. (127 mm) haunch exterior girder and the original continu- at the exterior girder, as shown in Fig. 5. ous stringers by cast-in-place polymer Sufficient reinforcing steel is provided concrete bearing pads. Employment of for fabrication, handling, edge beam post-tensioning and the use of light- capacity prior to in-place longitudinal weight concrete, despite widening of post-tensioning, distribution and tem- the deck, permitted continued use of pe rature. these members without strengthening. The transverse post-tensioning detai led The finished grade was generally raised in Fig. 6 was performed at the fabrica- 4 y in. (114 mm) to provide for this sys- tion plant and is a primary component of tem. A 1 1/2 in. (38 mm) thick asphaltic the panels' structural design. Combined wearing surface was used to provide a with the haunch at the girder, it pro- smooth riding surface between struc- vides the capacity for the 8 ft 1 r in. tural steel roadway joints at the ends of (2.47 m) cantilever outside of the girder steel girder units. as well as for the interior bays. The 78 TRANSVERSE LONGITUDINAL STRAND IN 4 SHEATHED STRANDS PLASTIC SHEATH IN DUCT AND GROUTED 1 PLAN DETAIL Fig. 6. Typical panel transverse and longitudinal post-tensioning. transverse Va in. (12.7 mm) diameter Use of Polymer Concrete and strands are in pairs approximately 12 in. Mortar (305 mm) on centers in the planes of the top and bottom reinforcing. At both Methyl methacrylate polymer con- edges of the panels, these strands are crete and mortar were proposed by slanted to mid-depth of the slab for an- Greiner Engineering for four details cho rage. within the deck system because of their The longitudinal post-tensioning pro- structural properties, placement vides sufficient compression to keep the characteristics and rapid set time over a transverse joints between panels closed, wide temperature range. They were ap- thus sealing out water and eliminating proved after extensive testing by the reflective cracking in the wearing sur- Maryland and Federal Highway Ad- face.