pleased with how it turned out,” said a representative of J.D. Eckman. “For the panel size, it was light and surprisingly rigid, which made for easy handling and placement. And the panels fit very well.” The strength-to-weight and weight-to-safety factors for FRP are superior to concrete or wood, which would have added too much weight to the total bridge weight before pedestrians or vehicles. The FRP panels are so strong, in fact, that they can support more than the 90 PSF uniform pedestrian live load. “Another key thing that led us to CCG is definitely the strength-to-weight ratio,” reported a member of the project management team. “The sidewalks are cantilevered off the truss structure. This means we can’t access the facia of the bridge from the roadway; we have to do it from the sidewalks. We use some relatively small equipment that is slightly heavier than pedestrian loads, and if we went with a heavy concrete deck surface, the steel superstructure wouldn’t have supported the weight.” Creative Composites Group brought two additional benefits to the project. Largely funded through the Build America, Buy America Act, the DRJTBC needed to source American-made materials for the project. CCG’s composite decking is made in the US, which complies with the BABAA requirement. A representative of CCG was also con- stantly available to the contractor team and, according to a representa- tive of the company, “were great to work with and willing to discuss anything.” These composite panels, and the support behind them, are home-grown, just like the Northampton Street Bridge itself. In the words of a representative of the contractor, “This project was not a typical rehabilitation. The bridge has lots of character, so installing the FRP panels was not on a level plane. The finished product turned out very good, and the project team is pleased.” Feedback shared with the DRJTBC shows the decking is doing its job. “The old product that we used held up for a while, but the traction on it had worn out and became very slippery. Parts were beginning to fail, and it felt flimsy,” said a member of the project team. “The new CCG composite decking feels very solid. The traction on the surface is outstanding, and so far, all the feedback has been really positive.”
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csengineermag.com
April 2023
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