Seismic Performance of Bridge Superstructure in Accelerated Bridge Construction

Accelerated bridge construction (ABC) methods utilizing prefabricated components and segmental construction techniques continue to be advanced around the country and have already been implemented in many states, including Texas, Washington, New York, and Massachusetts, to name a few (Federal Highway Administration [FHA] 2009). The ABC method has also been adopted by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) on a case by case basis, especially for bridge widening projects such as the San Mateo Bridge (Caltrans 2008). However, to date there has been very little experimental research conducted to validate seismic load capacities of connection details for such methods, and there has not been a systematic undertaking to introduce ABC in high seismic regions.