Beaver County bridge to be replaced
Will force turnpike detour on one weekend
For the first time next month, the Pennsylvania Turnpike will perform a complete bridge replacement on one weekend by closing the toll road between the Cranberry and Beaver Valley interchanges.
Using a process called Accelerated Bridge Construction, Brayman Construction Corp. and its subcontractors will dismantle the existing 150-foot bridge, slide the new bridge into place and pave the approaches to the bridge in 55 hours beginning at 9 p.m. Sept. 22.
The replacement bridge is under construction adjacent to the bridge that crosses Brush Creek in New Sewickley Township, Beaver County.
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has used this process before, but it’s the first time for the turnpike. Spokesman Carl DeFebo Jr. said that’s mostly because in many cases turnpike projects involve widening the existing roadway rather than simply replacing the existing structure.
But this project, and a similar one on the Northeast Extension in Lehigh County scheduled for Sept. 29, aren’t in areas scheduled for expansion for at least 10 years, he said.
The biggest advantages to using the one weekend process are that it reduces traffic restrictions and takes less construction time, said Wally Wimer, the turnpike’s engineering project manager.
Brayman started in February and should be finished by the end of September on the New
Sewickley bridge, a project that would take two construction seasons and involve alternating lane closures while crews worked on each half of the bridge.
The span carries about 40,000 vehicles a day.
“It’s just really a way for us to ease the traffic controls,” Mr. Wimer said of the $5.5 million project. “There’s very little interaction with motorists. The difference in construction costs kind of balances out with the simplicity of traffic control.”
The new concrete bridge is built on a platform adjacent to the existing structure and will be slid across on a Teflon-coated surface treated with a lubricant, which at times is as simple as dish washing liquid.
Crews will attach the new surface to the existing piers and abutments from the bridge’s original 1951 construction after some minor upgrades.
The project will require precise coordination of all aspects of the work to meet the time restraints, Mr. Wimer said, much like a music festival where acts have to be shuttled on and off stage quickly.
The schedule calls for dismantling to take about 15 hours, sliding the new bridge into place six to eight hours and the rest of the time attaching the new bridge, paving approaches and back-filling the staging area.
“There certainly will be extra crews at the site throughout the weekend,” Mr. Wimer said. “It’s definitely going to be an allhands-on-deck situation.”
This may be the first time this type of construction has been used in Pennsylvania, according to Lou Ruzzi, bridge engineer for PennDOT’s District 11 that includes Allegheny, Beaver and Lawrence counties.
The agency has used other accelerated concepts such as designing and producing precast concrete pieces to replace a Route 30 bridge in East Pittsburgh last year over one weekend.
But the agency hasn’t found the right project to use the system of building in advance adjacent to the existing bridge, dismantling the old bridge and sliding the new one in place.
“We’re open to it,” Mr. Ruzzi said. “It can be done at the right sites, but we don’t have one that works yet.”
Because the Beaver County project will involve a major detour, the turnpike purposely scheduled it after the summer travel season on a weekend without a Steelers game.
That leaves a small window for completing it in late September or early October if there are heavy storms the weekend of Sept. 22.
To prepare motorists, turnpike officials already have begun community outreach to meet with county and municipal officials as well as emergency services about the project.
The agency also has been in touch with wedding planners and funeral directors so they are aware of the turnpike closure.
The official detour will take traffic from the turnpike north to Interstate 80, across and south to get back on the turnpike, a detour of about 75 miles. That’s a long way, but Mr. DeFebo said the agency tries to divert turnpike traffic to other four-lane roads to avoid traffic nightmares on local streets.