Replacement of Outside Beams on Adjacent Box-Beam Structures

The design and construction of precast, prestressed concrete side-by-side box-beam bridges became popular in Michigan in the mid 50’s mainly due to their ease and speed of construction. In recent years, the preference for specifying this bridge type has declined significantly due to various performance issues. Durability, inspection, and sustainability of this bridge type have become a concern. Surface water leaking through the cracked longitudinal joints into the shear keys leads to concealed corrosion of reinforcement as well as prestressing strands along the beam sides. The corrosion activity remains concealed until cracking, delamination, or spalling occur. Often fascia and second beams have significant deterioration due to a combined action of material response to exposure conditions and moisture. With this background, there are numerous adjacent box-beam structures with significantly deteriorated fascia, and in some cases second-line, beams that may benefit from replacement of beams. Additionally, removing and re-installing transverse post tensioning, both tensioned non-grouted steel rods and grouted post tensioned steel cables, can be a concern. The primary area of focus for this project will be on assessing and determining best practices for addressing the deterioration (repair/replacement) of these outside beams.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Sponsor Organizations:

  Michigan Department of Transportation

  Van Wagoner Building
  425 W. Ottawa Street
  Lansing, MI  United States  48909
• Performing Organizations:

  Lawrence Technological University

  Department of Civil Engineering
  21000 W. Ten Mile Rd
  Southfield, MI  United States  48075-1058
• Principal Investigators:

  Grace, Nabil

• Start Date: 20250101
• Expected Completion Date: 20270101
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Best practices; Box beams; Bridge construction; Corrosion; Repairing
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Construction; Highways; Maintenance and Preservation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01957452
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Michigan Department of Transportation
• Files: RIP, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Jun 6 2025 2:24PM