tallbridgeguy

June 2008 article, in Ecoble, about a proposed 2 mile “green” bridge, that will act as a breakwater in the Monroe harbor. The price tag is around a billion dollars!

“The bridge’s design is a product of the Chicago based, and world-renowned design firm AS+GG.”

I was looking around the web for interesting bridges and I saw this story on the new Pawtucket bridge in Rhode Island.

The only picture I could find is this little rendering.

A) I hate it when little pictures are used, I think it misleads the public as to what the bridge really looks like, and B) I am always disappointed when an Architect designs a bridge. Bridge designers should step up and start providing some interesting designs.

The architecture firm who suggested this design only has houses and building on their website! How can they pivot and become a bridge design firm?

Found this on the internet. I can’t believe its real but I like it.

I spent another day looking at bridge problems. Bad backwalls, joints, decks, rails, slope protection, and more. Its amazing how much work is out there.

I spent the day driving around and looking at bridges. Specifically, bridges that need repairs. (get ready to spend money)

The biggest thing I noticed beside how hard repairs can be is how much traffic there is!

Try running out on a bridge and taking pictures! (The bridges did not have sidewalks.)

A couple of the bridges will require new decks and I’m not sure it is possible to shut down a bridge for a full construction season.

That’s where the need for ABC components comes in…maybe precast deck panels and a prefabricated barrier rail?

Joints were also a big problem. How about prefabricated joints?

How about a website that shows the details!

I just wanted to thank the visitors to this site. On average we get about 15 visitors a day with some peaks. I hope to put more ABC details on this site but as you probably know, they are difficult to find….

Thanks for visiting!

Composite beams are starting to make some inroads into bridge designs.

Since water and corrosion often shorten the life of a bridge, composites are boasting better corrsion resistance. The also seem to weigh less and that may help to reduce substructure costs.

“approximately one-tenth the weight of a typical precast concrete beams for the same span length”

Okay this is old news but its Sunday and a peaceful waterfall is relaxing. I do think it is interesting to mix bridges and Art. Mr Eliasson (another Dane!) placed a waterfall under the Brooklyn bridge this past summer. The youtube video is here.

Photo by epicharmus

Well another post that doesn’t directly relate to ABC bridges but something that most designers have to deal with at some time in their lives, micromanagement. As an engineer I am always improving my technical skills but I also have to think about the business side of bridge design.

One of the most damaging types of management is micromanagement. Not being able to trust your employees can put an enormous strain on your resources and really affect your companies productivity. Some of the most common signs of micromanagement are: (from an article by Charles McConnell)

• Cannot delegate effectively or delegate at all
• Often hands out only the easy, boring or dirty tasks while delegating nothing of interest or importance
• May hand out work, supposedly delegating, but hover instead, providing detailed direction, dictating methods rather than providing proper preparation, making the employee responsible for results and not allowing he or she to figure anything out and learn by doing

Micromanagers are usually irritated when a subordinate makes decisions without consulting them, even if the decisions are totally within the subordinate’s level of authority.

Micromanagement is extremely prevalent and most managers cannot recognize that they are doing it. Unfortunately, in many cases it may be the best option for employees to change their employment as soon as possible.

Since I’m an expert in Context Sensitive design (hey I won an award and everything) I find it interesting when the public gets involved in a bridge design. I have to say, I like it when the passions run high. It means they care about their neighborhood and I think it is up to designers to “prove” their designs are worthy replacements for beloved structures.

I love the quote below concerning the replacement ideas for some new Los Angeles bridges.

“I said as far as I am concerned, if you are going to put this bridge with cables there, you might as well not put a bridge there at all. I would rather not see one there,” said Victoria Torres, a board member of the Boyle Heights Historical Society. “It’s very disappointing when the city is trying to push something on you that you didn’t agree with.”

Good for her!

Kansas has been developing haunched post tenisoned slabs for a while now. While not an ABC type of structure it is a good way to keep the superstructure depth very low. What we are finding in our state are a number of older bridges that don’t meet current vertical or horizontal clearances. The problem is when you want to replace one of these structures and raise the grade, you have spend a lot of money raising the approaching road grade.

If the bridge is near ramps, then you might have to raise the grade on the ramps. Post tensioned slabs help reduce the superstructure height, which in turn helps to add vertical clearance. Post tensioned slabs are just another tool and can help out in certain situations.