Precast Bridge Deck Solutions for Rapid Rehabilitation of Truss Bridge (05-0242)**
Munindra Talukdar, Washington State Department of Transportation

ABSTRACT The Bridge and Structures Office completed the design for the Lewis and Clark Bridge deck replacement project in October of 2002. This historic bridge, designed by Joseph B. Strauss of Golden Gate Bridge fame, was built in 1930. It spans the Columbia River between Longview, Washington and Rainier, Oregon. The bridge consists of a 2,720-foot (829m) main through-truss section, a 927-foot (283m) deck truss section on the Oregon side, and a 168-foot (51m) deck truss and a 1,507 foot (459m) 12 span rolled-beam section on the Washington side. The bridge could only be closed to traffic at night from 9:30 P.M. to 5:30 A.M. during construction due to traffic constraints. Night closures were limited to 120 days and single-lane closures were limited to 200 days. The WSDOT Bridge Office designed a method to replace the existing concrete deck on the main through-truss and deck trusses, and for widening the existing deck on the rolled beam spans, using precast concrete deck panels. A total of 103 precast panels with a constant width of 36 feet (11.97m) and variable lengths of 25 to 45 feet (7.62 to 13.72m) were placed on the trusses. For the rolled-beam spans 46 precast panels with a constant width of 4 feet (1.22m) and variable lengths of 58 to 70 feet (17.68 to 21.34m) were placed. Construction is complete as of this date. This paper will examine in depth the design, construction and lifting operations involved with the replacement of the existing bridge deck with precast full width panels. The total cost of this project was $27 million.