EVENT DETAIL

The US 22, Section 400 project in Lehigh County, PA (Engineering District 5-0) includes the replacement of the severely deteriorated mainline bridges spanning over the Lehigh River, SR 1004 (Dauphin Street), the Lehigh Canal, and railroads. The project is part of a larger US 22 corridor improvement initiative to upgrade from a 4-lane mainline roadway [ADT (2032) = 147,000] to a 6-lane mainline roadway. The SR 22 mainline existing structures consists of a 678-foot, six span bridge and a 516-foot four span bridge with the main structures fracture critical steel girder-floorbeam-stringer systems. The proposed structure consists of 640-foot, five span west dual bridges and 530-foot four-span east dual bridges. The new superstructure consists of prestressed concrete bulb-tee beams with a maximum span of 160-feet in each bridge. The substructures consist of reinforced concrete hammerhead piers and stub abutments. The foundations consist of deep micropile foundations or spread footings. The $65 million-dollar project was Let on July 2, 2015 and is scheduled to be completed in September 2019. The presentation will go over the design and construction progress of the bridges highlighting challenges.

As part of the US 22, Section 400 project, the Fullerton Ave bridge spanning over SR 22 has been replaced. The existing bridge carrying Fullerton Avenue over US 22 has been hit numerous times because of substandard vertical clearance and was in need of replacement to accommodate the proposed widening of US 22 to 6-lanes. Various challenges were involved in designing a new bridge for this interchange, such as: raising the Fullerton Avenue profile, half width construction for traffic control, and foundation design for potential sinkholes. The bridge must also accommodate the future ultimate widening of US 22 through this interchange.