(logo whooshes) (dramatic music)
- [Narrator] During bridge construction,
several feet on each side not used for traffic is completed
to assist in the building process
and for the safety of workers.
Researchers from the Center for Transportation Research
and the Texas Department of Transportation
developed guidelines for precast deck panel systems
with wire trusses to set standards
for the next generation of bridge deck construction.
- In the state of Texas,
there is always a desire to improve construction practices
with respect to the bridges
and sort of improve the construction speed,
reduce the construction dollars,
while maintaining or improving
the safety of the traveling public.
- Bridge construction, a part of it, a big part of it,
is the construction of of the deck,
which is essentially the riding surface
that people drive on.
A part of the deck are the overhangs,
which are on either end of of the bridge.
- You look to your left and right, you see bridge rails.
So from rail to rail
for the entire width of the bridge deck,
we were looking for a precast solution.
The overhang portions of the deck
is where the traditional form work and overhang brackets
and all the rest need to be employed
for us to complete the decks.
So this was a quest to look for a solution,
a precast solution,
for the overhang portions of the deck.
We ended up importing a technology from Europe,
from Spain in particular,
where the use of wire trusses
from interior spans of a deck
over to the overhanging portion
and having to support the overhang
with the wire truss solutions is what proved to be feasible.
And with that solution on the table,
the construction speed of the bridge decks is improved.
- With this new technology,
your panels already include
the overhang portion of your deck,
so you eliminate the need
to install these overhang brackets,
and you can just go ahead
and cast the cast-in-place portion of your deck.
To TxDOT, it's gonna be a cost savings
in terms of time is money.
So the quicker we can get a deck constructed
and the more easily we can,
the less of a cost it is to TxDOT.
And the faster we can construct a bridge
and open it up to the public,
that's the benefit to the traveling public.
- [Narrator] For more information
and to find the publication for this project,
please visit the TxDOT Research Library
at the link shown below.