Accelerated Bridge Construction

The traveling public has no patience for prolonged, high cost construction projects. This puts highway construction contractors under intense pressure to minimize traffic disruptions and construction cost. Actively promoted by the Federal Highway Administration, there are hundreds of accelerated bridge construction (ABC) construction programs in the United States, Europe and Japan. Accelerated Bridge Construction: Best Practices and Techniques provides a wide range of construction techniques, processes and technologies designed to maximize bridge construction or reconstruction operations while minimizing project delays and community disruption. Describes design methods for accelerated bridge substructure construction; reducing foundation construction time and methods by using pile bents Explains applications to steel bridges, temporary bridges in place of detours using quick erection and demolition Covers design-build systems' boon to ABC; development of software; use of fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) Includes applications to glulam and sawn lumber bridges, precast concrete bridges, precast joints details; use of lightweight aggregate concrete, aluminum and high-performance steel

By employing prefabricated bridge elements and systems, Accelerated Bridge Construction reduces on-site construction time and traffic disruptions, and enhances long-term performance. ABC is particularly advantageous for short-span bridges that are well-suited to standardized prefabrication. In such cases, the entire superstructure and substructure can often be constructed using prefabricated deck elements, modular decks, or systems that span the full bridge width. The construction methods can range from traditional crane installations to Self-Propelled Modular Transport units or slide-in techniques for moving the entire superstructures. This book introduces the concept of ABC and examines its application in the context of short-span bridge construction. It categorizes and details short-span bridges based on various criteria and evaluates the performance of the existing bridges. Decision-making processes regarding the adoption of ABC, choice of elements, systems, and construction methods are also discussed. Additionally, the book covers the inspection of short-span bridges and includes a design example.

Accelerated bridge construction : experience in design, fabrication and erection of prefabricated bridge elements and systems : final manual /

This document represents the “State of the Practice” with respect to all aspects of accelerated bridge construction (ABC). The intent of this manual is to fill in the gaps left by publication of the previous manuals. The manual covers ABC techniques, project planning and scoping, implementing ABC in a Transportation Agency, prefabricated elements, long-term performance of prefabricated elements, construction and design. The manual can be used by transportation agencies to establish a successful accelerated bridge construction program.

This document represents the "State of the Practice" with respect to all aspects of accelerated bridge construction (ABC). The intent of this manual is to fill in the gaps left by publication of the previous manuals. The manual covers ABC techniques, project planning and scoping, implementing ABC in a Transportation Agency, prefabricated elements, long-term performance of prefabricated elements, construction and design. The manual can be used by transportation agencies to establish a successful accelerated bridge construction program

TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 698: Application of Accelerated Bridge Construction Connections in Moderate-to-High Seismic Regions evaluates the performance of connection details for bridge members in accelerated bridge construction in medium-to-high seismic regions and offers suggestions for further research.

In this FHWA-sponsored pool funded study, a set of decision making tools, based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was developed. This tool set is prepared for transportation specialists and decision-makers to determine if ABC is more effective than traditional construction for a given bridge replacement or rehabilitation project. The tool set is user-friendly, flexible to accommodate a range of construction situations, transparent as to the method of calculation, and customizable to maintain future relevance. To accommodate this task, a comprehensive literature review on a number of relevant domains such as ABC construction techniques and decision making approaches, were completed. The findings were summarized into a decision model hierarchy that was also incorporated into the decision making software. The software was tested through evaluating a set of real-world construction projects.