Design challenges in median widening between historically widened bridges

Monash Freeway spans across Jacksons Road and Police Road, originally as twin, three-span, highly skewed continuous I-beam bridges constructed in the 1970s with a wide gap in the median. They have been subsequently widened twice in the median and once on the verges. As part of the Monash Freeway Upgrade Stage 2 Project (MFU2), the existing bridges over Jacksons and Police Roads required widening in the median to become a single monolithic superstructure.These bridge widenings were complex due to the different structural systems in the original and each of the historic bridge widenings. The original bridges were supported on bearing pads whilst the subsequent widenings incorporated elastomeric and pot bearings. The various types of bearing and expansion joints significantly impacted the overall behaviour of the structure after widening. In addition, the bridge widenings were designed and subjected to different traffic loading, thermal effects, and experienced different aged effects of creep and shrinkage. The challenges of the complex bridge widenings were ensuring the new widening did not adversely affect the performance of the existing bridges, nor reduce their load carrying capacity.This paper will address how the history of previous widenings was considered in the various analytical stages, key issues such as: in-plane rotation of the deck, high skew, the varied articulation systems of the historic widenings, and the resolution in the final design of the median widening.

• Record URL:
  • https://austroads.com.au/publications/bridges/abc2022-000-22
• Record URL:
  • https://arrbknowledge.com
• Authors:
  • Wu, Q
  • Tu, C
• Conference:
  • Austroads Bridge Conference, 11th, 2022, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
• Publication Date: 2022-11

Media Info

• Pagination: 14p
• Monograph Title: 11th Austroads Bridge Conference, Adelaide, 15th-18th November 2022

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bearings; Bridge design; Bridge management systems; Bridges; Expansion; Expansion joints; I beams; Maintenance; Pavement widening; Skew bridges
• Geographic Terms: Australia; Melbourne, Victoria
• ATRI Terms: Bearings; Bridge design; Bridge maintenance; Expansion joint; I beam; Skew bridge; Widening
• ITRD Terms: 2998: Joint (structural); 2889: Widening (road, bridge)
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Maintenance and Preservation; I61: Equipment and Maintenance Methods;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01901723
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: ARRB Group Limited
• Files: ITRD, ATRI
• Created Date: Dec 7 2023 2:54PM