A two-bridge project in Southington, Connecticut, took advantage of precast concrete and Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC) techniques to minimize construction time and reduce user costs for detours by reducing closure time on the bridge to less than 56 hours.

The twin east- and westbound bridges, on Interstate 84 over Marion Avenue, replace 1963 structures and features 47-inch-deep precast concrete PCEF bulb-tee girders approximately 102.5 feet long. The NEBT 1200 beams were fabricated in the plant by Northeast Prestressed Products and delivered to a staging area near the bridge. The project was designed by the Connecticut Department of Transportation.

Once the components were in place, the highway beneath the bridges was closed for a weekend. The existing bridges were demolished and removed, and the new superstructures was moved into place using Self-Propelled Modular Transports (SPMTs). To help speed construction, NPP also provided precast concrete approach slabs, which were redesigned to provide larger slabs resulting in fewer closure joints.

Precaster

Northeast Prestressed Products LLC, Pottsville, PA

Owner

Connecticut Department of Transportation, Newington, CT

Bridge Design Engineer

Stantec Consulting Services, Inc. New Haven, CT

Contractor

Northern Construction Services LLC, Palmer, MA

Precast Beam Design

Eriksson Technologies, Tampa, FL

Key Project Attributes

• Structural Precast Elements:
  • (10) PCEF bulb-tee girders, 47-in-deep x 102.5-ft-long 
  • Approach slabs
  • Section moved into place using SPMTs
  • 56-hour closure of highway to complete project

Project/Precast Scope

• Resources:
  • Marion Avenue Bridge PDF (201.0 KB)
  • Aspire Magazine Article (1.9 MB)
  • Bridge Resources