Utah Demonstration Project: Rapid Removal and Replacement of the 4500 South Bridge over I-215 in Salt Lake City

Federal Highway Administration2013PDFTech ReportArdani, AhmadMallela, JagannathHoffman, GaryApplied Research Associates, Inc.United States. Federal Highway Administration. Office of InfrastructureLord, ByronHuie, MaryUnited States. Federal Highway AdministrationUnited StatesUtahDemonstration projectsBridge constructionContractingInnovationEconomic analysisLane closurePrefabricated bridgesByron Lord;Mary HuieFinal ReportAs part of a national initiative sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration under the Highways for LIFE program, the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) was awarded a $1 million grant to demonstrate the use of proven, innovative technologies for accelerated bridge removal and replacement. This report documents accelerated bridge construction (ABC) techniques used to remove and replace the 4500 South Bridge on State Route 266 over Interstate 215 in Salt Lake City over a weekend. This report includes construction details of the bridge superstructure built offsite on temporary abutments and prefabricated and cast-in-place bridge components and substructure built under the existing bridge without interfering with traffic flow. It also discusses use of a self-propelled modular transporter (SPMT) to remove the old bridge and to replace it with a new one. Under conventional construction, the impact of this project on the traveling public was estimated at 120 days, but with the use of accelerated construction techniques, the impact was reduced to a single weekend for I-215 and 10 days for SR 266. Using an SPMT and other ABC techniques added approximately $0.81 million to the initial construction cost of the project. However, a more comprehensive economic analysis including user cost savings shows that the project saved road users about $3.24 million (or approximately 36 percent of the total project costs). Because of the success of this project, UDOT has decided to use ABC techniques more routinely on future projects and has set a goal of making ABC standard practice for all bridges by 2010.104