BRIDGES ARE AN ESSENTIAL compo-nent of our built environment. Every bridge is a necessity for the people who use it and reconstruction is often disruptive to the com-munity. The Dry Branch Bridge exemplifies a crossing that provides a critical link necessitat-ing rapid replacement to avoid an exceptionally long detour for school busses. Replacement was further complicated by the obstructions on each side and above the bridge.

The West Virginia Department of Transporta-tion needed an innovative solution to replace the bridge on Kanawha County Route 60/29. The contractor, Orders Construction, shoe-horned the 106-foot, double-web Hillman Composite Beams (HCB®s), weighing only 20,000 pounds, into the narrow envelope cre-ated by the I-77/64 Bridge overhead, a massive bridge column to the right and utility lines 30 feet to the left. Despite the onerous site con-straints, Orders set the three HCBs in under three hours. With no diaphragms or transverse post-tensioning required between the beams, the crane immediately demobilized once the

beams were set. Concrete or steel girders of similar capacity would have likely required at least two large cranes and a transfer girder to accomplish the installation.

Buoyancy forces on the HCB had to be checked to ensure the bridge would not float way since Campbell’s Creeks overtops the bridge on an almost annual basis. Although calculations proved the HCB is heavy enough to avoid uplift in a flood, the inspection hatches on the bot-toms of the HCBs were detailed to ensure the double-web boxes would fill and drain with the fluctuating elevations of the river if necessary.

With partial funding from the Innovative Bridge Research and Development (IBRD) program administered by the Federal High-way Administration, the Dry Branch Bridge showcases the longest HCBs deployed to date. Construction also included Stay-in-Place FRP forms to expedite and simplify deck forming. The completed structure demonstrates the ef-fectiveness of HCB for rapid construction of a bridge with very difficult site constraints.

DRY BRANCH BRIDGE Charleston, West Virginia

Chicago (847) 722-4072Raleigh (804) 400-4078

www.HCBridge.com

PROJECT SPECS: Single Span

Length: 106 ft. (32.5 m) Width: 24 ft. (7.5 m)

HCB PIECE WEIGHT: Empty: 20,100 lbs. (9,117 kg) Filled: 60,400 lbs. (27,400 kg)

OWNER: West Virginia Department of Transportation

CONTRACTOR: Orders Construction

COMPLETION DATE: September 2013