Design and Construction of Dual 630-foot, Jointless, Three-span Continuous Multi-girder Bridges in St. Albans, West Virginia, United States, Carrying U.S. Route 60 over the Coal River

The aging bridge that carries U.S. 60 over the Coal River in St. Albans, West Virginia was programmed for replacement by the West Virginia Division of Highways (WVDOH) in the late 1990’s. In 2000, the WVDOH retained SAI Consulting Engineers, Inc. to design a replacement for the existing 570-foot, fivespan, riveted steel girder bridge. The existing bridge has four travel lanes and two 3-foot sidewalks. The existing superstructure consisted of three main girders with floorbeams and stringers, was on a 38-degree skew, and utilized sliding plate expansion dams at the two abutments. The replacement bridge would be wider than the existing bridge and would consist of four 12-foot travel lanes, a raised 4- foot center median, two 6-foot shoulder/bicycle lanes, two concrete parapets, and two 5-foot sidewalks (78'-7-1/2"). In accordance with standard WVDOH design policy, one of the primary goals of the project was to minimize or eliminate bridge joints where possible. During the preliminary span arrangement study phase, two types of replacement structures were studied: 1. One bridge that would carry the entire proposed 78'-7-1/2" cross-section. This alternative would consist of a 530-foot-long, three-span, continuous steel bridge with skewed (38-degree) abutments and piers; and 2. Two separate, parallel 39'-3-3/4"-wide bridges with perpendicular abutments and piers. Each bridge would be a 630-foot, three-span, continuous steel bridge. The use of perpendicular abutments and piers required these substructure units to be longitudinally offset by 30.5 feet. The foundations chosen for the piers (single-shaft, hammerhead type) were deep-drilled shafts bearing on bedrock. The drilled shafts were as deep as 60 feet and were particularly adaptable to the perpendicular substructure configuration chosen. The integral abutments were founded on a single row of steel H-piles with the weak axis of the pile oriented in the direction of the bridge movement. Special details were generated due to the jointless design, primarily to take care of bridge movements at the abutments and approach slabs. The bridge is currently under construction and is due for completion by December 2005.

• Record URL:
  • http://www.cemr.wvu.edu/cfc/conference/Proceeding.pdf
• 
• Corporate Authors:

  West Virginia University, Morgantown

  Constructed Facilities Center
  Morgantown, WV  United States  26506-6101

  West Virginia Department of Transportation

  1900 Kanawha Boulevard East
  Charleston, WV  United States  25305-0440

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Perkun, John
  • Michael, Keith
• Conference:
  • Integral Abutment and Jointless Bridges (IAJB 2005)
  • Location: Baltimore Maryland, United States
  • Date: 2005-3-16 to 2005-3-18
• Publication Date: 2005

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Features: Figures; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 97-112
• Monograph Title: Integral Abutment and Jointless Bridges (IAJB 2005), March 16-18, 2005, Baltimore, Maryland

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bridge design; Girder bridges; Jointless bridges; Steel bridges
• Uncontrolled Terms: Drilled shafts; Integral abutments; Steel piling
• Geographic Terms: St. Albans (West Virginia)
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Design; Highways; I24: Design of Bridges and Retaining Walls;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01090111
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, USDOT, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Mar 20 2008 8:55AM