Innovative Concrete Bridge Wins Quality Initiative Structure Award

The Jakway Park Bridge in Buchanan County, Iowa, has earned the right to be called innovative. It is the first North American highway bridge built with a new generation of ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) PI-girders, the first highway bridge to incorporate UHPC batched in a ready-mix concrete truck, and only the third in North America built with UHPC girders.

The project received an "Iowa Quality Initiative Structures Research Merit Award" from the Associated General Contractors of Iowa and the Iowa Department of Transportation.

Lafarge's ultra-high performance concrete, "Ductal®", was used for the project (also known as Reactive Powder Concrete). The concrete provides a combination of superior properties including ductility, durability, and strength. The compressive strength of the beams in the bridge was 21,500 psi (final).

This three-span bridge is 112 ft 4 in. long and 24 ft 3 in. wide. The UHPC center span is 51 ft 2 in. It includes three precast, prestressed UHPC PI-girders and a cast-in-place slab. The girders are called “PI”-girders because their cross-section resembles the Greek letter “pi”.

Funding was granted through the TEA-21 Innovative Bridge Construction Program, managed by the Federal Highway Administration, to construct a highway bridge with an optimized UHPC PI-girder section. The bridge opened to traffic on November 26, 2008 and an official ribbon cutting ceremony took place on April 15, 2009.

Q: How were the Ultra High Performance Concrete Beams for the Jakway Park Bridge cured?

A: The beams in the Jakway Park Bridge were made with a particular type of Ultra High Performance Concrete (UHPC) known as "Ductal®". These beams were cured in two stages. The first stage involved curing at ambient temperatures, although steam curing up to 115^oF (46.1^oC) would be allowed much like that for most precast, prestressed beams. Once the UHPC reached a specified strength, the first stage of curing was stopped, the forms were removed and the strands were detensioned. The second stage of curing then began with thermal treatments applied to the UHPC beams with moisture present. This second stage of curing increases the strength and durability of the members. More on curing the UHPC beams.

Call for Abstracts for 2010 Concrete Bridge Conference

The National Concrete Bridge Council is pleased to announce the 2010 Concrete Bridge Conference to be held February 24-26, 2010, at the Hyatt Regency in Phoenix, Arizona. The theme of this year’s Conference is “Achieving Safe, Smart, and Sustainable Bridges” and will include many technical sessions on concrete bridges, a tour of local area concrete bridges, a reception featuring presentation of the 2010 Concrete Bridge Awards, an exhibit area, and spring training baseball for those who wish to stay after the conference has concluded. The conference will have five focus areas: Sustainable Bridges, Smart Bridges, Non-Destructive Evaluations of Bridges, Durable Bridge Decks, and Innovative Design and Construction.

We welcome your abstracts for the conference. Abstracts are due July 15, 2009, and can be submitted at the NCBC Web site.

Concrete Bridge Awards Competition Opens

A Call for Entries has been issued for the 12th biennial Concrete Bridge Awards Competition, co-sponsored by PCA and Roads & Bridges magazine. Bridges of all types—highway, railway, transit, and pedestrian—in which the basic structural system is concrete are eligible. Entries are encouraged for cast-in-place or precast bridges (or combinations) with short, medium, or long spans. These bridges can be newly constructed, rehabilitated, or widened structures.

To be eligible, bridges must have been essentially completed between April 2008 and September 2009. Entries are due September 4, 2009. Interested owners, consultants, contractors, or suppliers can submit entries online or by downloading an entry form and submitting a hard copy version.

Awards will be presented at the 2010 Concrete Bridge Conference in Phoenix, Arizona, February 24-26, 2010. Winners will be announced in Roads & Bridges magazine, by PCA, and by other professional publications.

For more information contact Sue Lane at PCA at 202-408-9494 or SLane@cement.org

2010 Bridge Seminar for Professors—Register Now!

The “Design of Concrete Bridges by the AASHTO LRFD” is being offered August 6-7, 2009. It is a free seminar open only to professors to help them be the best educators that they can be by knowing the latest design rules and current technology. Each attendee receives a participant notebook with copies of all slides, design examples, and a CD containing PowerPoint files of most presentations and design examples.

The purpose of the seminar is to provide professors with background information and tools to facilitate teaching new concepts introduced in the LRFD bridge design specifications and current practice. They include, but are not limited to, bridge deck design, girder design (including shear design methods), and substructure design. After attending the seminar, professors are also better equipped to help their state Department of Transportation and offer assistance when bridge design questions arise.

Participating professors are sponsored by local concrete industry groups from the U.S. to help cover the professors’ travel costs to Skokie, Ill. (a suburb of Chicago), where the course is held. In order to maintain a proper educational setting and to provide for meaningful interchange of ideas, attendance is limited to 32 professors per seminar, on a first come, first served basis.

Contact Caron Johnsen to register now for this year’s seminar.

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