HISTORICAL-TECHNICAL SERIES (ISTORICAL0(ISTO ERSPECTIERSP VEINEIN ECTI RICAL0 THE$EVELOPMENTOF0RECAST 0RESTRESSED#ONCRETE"RIDGES 3INCE THE EMERGENCE OF PRECAST PRESTRESSED CONCRETE BRIDGES IN THE 5NITED3TATESINTHEEARLYS INNOVATIONSANDDEVELOPMENTSHAVE PROPELLED THIS mEXIBLE AND EXPEDIENT CONSTRUCTION MATERIAL INTO A WIDEVARIETYOFAPPLICATIONS INCLUDINGTHEERECTIONOFLONGERBRIDGE SPANSCARRIEDBYCONCRETESUPERSTRUCTURES4HELASTFEWDECADESHAVE WITNESSED THE EMERGENCE OF PRESTRESSED CONCRETE AS A MAJOR PLAYER OFTHE53BRIDGEMARKETnAREMARKABLETRANSITIONFROMARELATIVELY UNKNOWNMATERIALRELEGATEDTOSHORTSPANSTOASUCCESSFULCOMPETITOR OVERESTABLISHEDMATERIALSANDMETHODS4HElRMOF0ARSONS"RINCKERHOFF 6IJAY#HANDRA 0% 0" ISPROUDTOHAVECONTRIBUTEDTOTHEDEVELOPMENTANDEXPANSIONOF 3ENIOR6ICE0RESIDENT PRECAST PRESTRESSEDCONCRETESYSTEMS4HISARTICLEHIGHLIGHTSSIGNIlCANT 0ARSONS"RINCKERHOFF1UADEAND PROJECTS INCLUDINGTHElRSTMAJORUSEOFPRECAST PRESTRESSEDCONCRETE $OUGLAS )NC .EW9ORK .EW9ORK INTHE&IRST3UNSHINE3KYWAY"RIDGE &LORIDA ANDTHEEARLYAPPLICATION OFSPLICEDGIRDERBRIDGESFORLONGERSPANS hat factors spurred precast, willingness of our predecessors to try prestressed concrete appli- new ideas. 7cations into the mainstream The goal of this article is to present of bridge construction? It is widely an historical overview of a variety of agreed that the major contributors to PB projects, including several award- the evolution of this building material winning structures that are recognized are: advances in concrete material tech- for innovative designs, construction 2OBERT7ARSHAW 0% nology; greater latitude in AASHTO methodologies, and material applica- 6ICE0RESIDENT Specifi cations; development of a con- tions. Selected projects range from 0ARSONS"RINCKERHOFF1UADEAND siderable body of research; improve- those constructed in the early 1950s $OUGLAS )NC ments in system hardware, precasting – when PB was at the leading edge in .EW9ORK .EW9ORK technology and transportation systems; developing and implementing precast, and an expanding knowledge base. prestressed concrete technology across However, the real impetus behind the many different bridge types – to cur- present success of precast, prestressed rent endeavors. Of course, the authors concrete in state-of-the-art bridge con- recognize that the fi rm’s accomplish- struction has been the ingenuity and ments represent a microcosm of the 0#)*/52.!, innovative efforts and events that have occurred throughout the larger industry as a whole. Although PB has used precast, pre- stressed concrete technology on hun- dreds of bridges, viaducts and ramps, the following 13 representative proj- ects are highlighted in this article: • First Sunshine Skyway Bridge, Florida • Pelican Island Causeway, Texas • First & Second Hampton Roads Bridge/Tunnel, Virginia • Atlantic City Expressway, New Jersey • Halawa Interchange, Hawaii • Fort Weaver Road Bridge, Hawaii • Keehi Interchange, &IG"YTHEMID S 4HE&IRST3UNSHINE3KYWAY"RIDGEIN3T0ETERSBURG Hawaii &LORIDA CROSSEDAREMARKABLEDISTANCEOFMILESKM ANDWASNOTABLEFOR • James River Bridge, MORETHANMILESKM OFPRECAST PRESTRESSEDCONCRETECONSTRUCTIONFORTHE LOW LEVELBRIDGESECTIONS Virginia • West Seattle Freeway Bridge, Washington The 16,000 ft (4880 m) of low-level &)2343%#/.$ • New Sunshine Skyway Bridge, bridge spans consisted of precast, pre- (!-04/.2/!$3 Florida stressed concrete girders. This project • Ocean City-Longport Bridge, "2)$'%45..%, was particularly notable for its use of New Jersey precast, prestressed concrete construc- (AMPTON 6IRGINIA • East Pascagoula Bridge, AND tion for more than 3 miles (4.8 km) of Mississippi low-level bridge structure, one of the On behalf of the Virginia Department • Central Artery/Tunnel Project, of Highways, PB designed and super- Massachusetts first projects to use this construction technique in such magnitude. vised the construction of both the First and Second Hampton Roads Crossings. &)23435.3().% Connecting Hampton and Norfolk, the 3+97!9"2)$'% 0%,)#!.)3,!.$ projects consisted of an immersed tube #!53%7!9 tunnel in the shipping channel flanked 3T0ETERSBURG &LORIDA by approach trestles (see Fig. 3). 'ALVESTON 4EXASTO TO The overall project included 3.5 miles PB planned, designed, prepared For the Galveston County Navigation (5.6 km) of water crossing with 6150 contract documents (plans and speci- District No. 1, PB designed and pro- ft (1875 m) of south approach trestles fications), and performed technical vided technical inspection of construc- and 3250 ft (991 m) of north approach inspection of construction for the tion for this 8000 ft (2440 m) crossing trestles for each of the two crossings. First Sunshine Skyway Bridge for the over the Galveston ship channel that Two parallel structures accommodate Florida State Road Department (see connects 51st Street in Galveston with two lanes of traffic in each direction. Fig. 1). This exceptionally long water Pelican Island (see Fig. 2). Precast, pre- The first crossing was commissioned in crossing over Tampa Bay extended for stressed concrete girders were used for 1957 and the second parallel crossing a distance of 15 miles (24 km), from was opened to traffic in 1976. the 1500 ft (457 m) long approaches Maximo Point in the city of St. Peters- In the Second Hampton Roads cross- to the 160 ft (49 m) single-leaf rolling burg, to its southern terminus, 4 miles ing project, the trestle structures were (6.4 km) north of Bradenton. lift bascule span. The crossing carries a designed for two alternative pier types: The crossing was divided into eleven two-lane vehicular roadway, a pedestri- one featured precast, post-tensioned sections: six hydraulic fill embankment an sidewalk and a single railroad track. spun cylinder concrete piles, 54 in. (1370 sections, a high level cantilever bridge The Pelican Island Causeway was mm) in diameter, with precast concrete section, a double-leaf bascule bridge the first major structure in the United pile caps, while the other included eight section, a fixed steel beam bridge sec- States to use prestressed concrete deck 24 in. (610 mm) square precast, preten- tion, and two low-level bridge sections. slabs for a railroad crossing. sioned concrete piles with cast-in-place .OVEMBER $ECEMBER (CIP) concrete caps. The contractor chose the cylinder pile precast cap al- ternative for construction. The super- structure consisted of seven rows of AASHTO-PCI Type III precast, pre- stressed concrete beams spaced at 6.3 ft (1.9 m) with a composite CIP deck slab. !4,!.4)##)49 %802%337!9 !TLANTIC#ITY .EW*ERSEY TO After World War II, when the auto- mobile industry was growing dramati- cally, the need for paved roads was in great demand. States were struggling to accommodate the increased traffic and enlisted private engineering companies to assist in designing roads and bridg- es. By 1954, 28 states, including New Jersey, were involved in the develop- ment or construction of 7500 miles (12,070 km) of toll roads. In 1950, the Atlantic City Express- way toll road development began. PB was retained as general engineer- ing consultant to design, manage the section design consultants (SDC), and supervise the construction of 44 miles (71 km) of a four-lane roadway be- tween Turnersville and Atlantic City (see Fig. 4). PB proposed a unique method to ac- celerate bridge construction and lower &IG0ELICAN)SLAND#AUSEWAYIN construction costs by standardizing the 'ALVESTON 4EXAS WASTHElRSTMAJOR STRUCTUREINTHE5NITED3TATESTOUSE PRECAST PRESTRESSEDCONCRETEDECKSLABS FORARAILROADCROSSING &IG4HE&IRSTAND3ECOND(AMPTON 2OADS"RIDGE4UNNELIN6IRGINIA CONSISTEDOFANIMMERSEDTUBETUNNELIN THESHIPPINGCHANNELONEOFTHEMID BAYTUNNELAPPROACHESISSHOWNINTHIS AERIALPHOTOGRAPH 0#)*/52.!, The bridges utilized several types of structural systems. Some bridges have conventional precast, prestressed con- crete stringers (standard I-girders) with CIP slabs continuous for superimposed dead load and live load, while others have CIP reinforced concrete box gird- er construction. However, two bridges used unique construction methods for the time, featuring what is now known as spliced girder technology to extend span lengths using precast concrete girders (see Fig. 6). The available precast AASHTO-PCI Type IV girders [limited to 104 ft (31.7 m) in length] were spliced with cantile- ver box superstructures – in the form of mushroom piers – to create two spans of 132 ft (40.2 m) each. The mushroom piers and the support at the end of the pier that received the girders were &IG4HE!TLANTIC#ITY%XPRESSWAYIN.EW*ERSEYWASPARTOFTHETREMENDOUS erected using falsework. The girders GROWTHINNATIONALTRANSPORTATIONINFRASTRUCTUREFOLLOWING7ORLD7AR)))NTHIS were erected with one end sitting on PROJECT THEDESIGNFORTHEPRECAST PRESTRESSEDGIRDERSWASSTANDARDIZEDFOREFlCIENT the falsework and the other end resting PRODUCTIONANDCOSTSAVINGS on the abutment. The CIP deck over the girders was bridge components: SDCs would sub- interchange in Honolulu on the island then placed along with the closure pour mit their bridge framing plans and PB of Oahu (see Fig. 5). The interchange between the ends of the girders and would design all precast, prestressed connects four major highways: Inter- the pier, resulting in a two-span con- concrete girders in two procurement state H-1, Interstate H-3, the Moanalua tinuous bridge. This spliced girder de- contracts. A system was developed Freeway, Halawa Heights Road, and sign made economical use of standard wherein all girders for the project numerous secondary roads and streets. precast members, while stretching the were designed using only five different