Bridges across the country continue to use new methods and technologies to coordinate the replacement of structures, ultimately improving safety and accessibility, while prioritizing an accelerated schedule.
One case comes out of Georgia. The 110-year old Courtland Street Bridge provides access to the Capitol building and is a key pedestrian corridor for the Georgia State University campus. In recent years, the bridge has shown signs of deterioration.
As such the Georgia Dept. of Transportation challenged the design-build team to replace the bridge using an innovative solution, in an effort to reduce the time on the project and also minimize the impact to the surrounding area.
Accelerated Bridge Construction Approach
Enter Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC). Michael Baker International is leading the engineering design efforts on the project using the ABC approach. The organization says this will cut the total construction time in half by using a phased design. The approach will allow construction in certain areas to begin while design is finalized for the rest of the structure. This includes a foundation, beam, substructure, and final overall bridge phase packages.
While construction is underway, the foundation will be installed underneath the existing bridge to reduce detours for vehicles and pedestrians. It will also include a protected access and exist areas through the work zone to key buildings.
The new bridge will replace all 28 spans of the bridge over the rail lines, and will include 12-foot lanes that will accommodate increased traffic volumes.
