The Twelve Mile Creek bridges—Design and construction

Abstract

The two bridges featured are precast segmental concrete box girders built by the balanced cantilever method. Crossing a hydro tailrace, this $11 million project forms a part of the new Highway 406 through St. Catharines, Ontario. Several unique features of the structures are highlighted. These features include transverse rib beams employed at each segment face to support the deck slab; flaring of the deck slabs to accommodate on and off ramps; and twisting horizontal alignment of the highway. Both bridges have a depth-to-span ratio of 1:27, which results in one of the most slender precast box girder bridges built by the balanced cantilever method. The construction phase of this project is reviewed with particular attention to the casting operation and to the erection of the segments employing a steel launching truss. Design- and construction-related problems encountered are presented and reveal that the more perplexing problems are generally those not related to the complexities of the segmental form of construction but rather to the more mundane aspects of posttensioned concrete bridge construction. Key words: precast segmental concrete box girder bridges, balanced cantilever methods, steel launching truss, short line casting bed.