A new technique for installation has allowed the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) to slide updated bridges into place around the Bellemont, Ariz., section of Interstate 40 in days, rather than months.
ADOT was replacing spans over I-40 at Transwestern Road. Under a process known as value engineering, the contractor on the project recommended casting the new bridges to the east of the existing bridges and then moving them into place from there. ADOT credits the procedure with cutting closures down to a nine-day replacement process, rather than the standard six to eight months of restrictions.
The brides were built up, and then crews diverted I-40 traffic to the on- and off-ramps. They demolished the old bridges, then used hydraulic jacks to lift and shift the new bridges into their proper place — a process which itself took around four and a half days. So far, ADOT has dubbed the process a success.