Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC) reduces the time for construction of bridges from months to days, and in some cases, hours. Techniques that include large-scale prefabrication of bridge elements allow for construction and assembly of portions of the bridge offsite. The structure can then be moved into place when ready. This procedure reduces costs and saves valuable time without sacrificing the quality of the resulting product.
CME is a leader in the national trend of ABC. In 2008, CME completed a manual entitled Connection Details for Prefabricated Bridge Elements and Systems for the Federal Highway Administration. This manual represents the "state of the art" in ABC methods and techniques. CME has also assisted eight state DOTs across the country where ABC techniques were studied for various highway projects.
FAST 14 BRIDGE REPLACEMENT PROGRAM:
INTERSTATE 93, MEDFORD, MA
CME’s extensive experience with Accelerated Bridge Construction techniques led MassDOT to assign our firm the task of developing a plan to drastically reduce the anticipated construction time for this project. Forecasted timeframes anticipated a staggering 4 years of staged construction to replace the 41 spans using conventional methods. By utilizing ABC techniques, the project will be completed over 10 weekends during the summer of 2011 with only one lane closure at a time to allow traffic to continue during construction and avoiding major impacts to work-week commuter traffic.
The images below show stages of construction over the weekend of June 18-19, 2011
Michael P. Culmo, PE