Fifth Street Pedestrian Plaza Bridge Becomes Landmark at Georgia Tech

Abstract

Few things provide more professional satisfaction to precast concrete engineers, architects, precasters, and contractors than to create an exciting landmark structure with untried new designs. In midtown Atlanta, Ga., the Georgia Institute of Technology’s (Georgia Tech’s) Fifth Street Pedestrian Plaza Bridge provides more than safe passage over the 15 busy lanes of the I-75/I-85 Downtown Connector. Using some bridge elements for the first time (including a modified PCI bulb-tee beam, planter walls, and a tension-micropile support abutment), the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) compressed its usual 6-year plan­ning schedule to an unprecedented 10 months for the Fifth Street Pedestrian Plaza Bridge project. Building a GDOT design-build bridge for the first time, the general contractor worked seven-day weeks to avoid proj­ect delays and traffic interruptions.