1. Home
  2. RIP
  3. View Record
https://trb-annual-meeting.nationalacademies.org/registration

Bridge Deck Replacement on Concrete Box-Girders

The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) bridge inventory includes a number of concrete box girder bridges, some of which have concrete decks that are approaching the end of their service life. As these bridges age, it is essential to rehabilitate or replace the concrete decks rather than demolish either the superstructure or the entire structure. ADOT has previously implemented temporary shoring, falsework, or jacking to provide stability to the box girders during deck replacement. However, this method can be very costly, inefficient, and have a large impact on maintenance of traffic during construction. The removal of the deck, which is an integral part of the load-resisting mechanism, requires an assessment of the potential for unfavorable stress redistribution; it can also cause the bridge difficulty in meeting AASHTO’s stress and deflection criteria. As a result, research is needed to develop efficient methods for replacing the deck on box-girder bridges while maintaining structural integrity without relying on inefficient and expensive temporary shoring, while also minimizing traffic disruptions. This research will benefit ADOT in the following ways: (1) identify the state of the practice and the use of research results to provide deck replacement strategies and to forecast funding and operations; (2) provide deck replacement solutions that do not rely on extensive shoring; (3) define and explain the structural performance of concrete box-girder bridge decks to ensure safety during construction and eliminate risk associated with the construction and traveling public; and (4) identify alternative and cost-efficient methods of replacing bridge decks on box-girders that have been completed by other State DOTS, and then improve ADOT’s knowledge on this subject.