"The U-BEAM’s ease of installation allowed the St. Clair County Road Commission to remove the existing bridge and install the Valmont U-BEAM bridge system within one week — with a crew of five from its current workforce during the ‘slow’ season between spring road maintenance and winter snow plowing.”
Guy Nelson, Product Development Director, Valmont
Coming to the end of a long 60-year service life, a severely deteriorated steel beam bridge on the Marine City Highway was in need of replacement. However, with more than 10,000 vehicles per day using the two-lane road in and out of Marine City, St. Clair County Road Commission (SCRC) wanted a solution that expedited the construction schedule to limit the duration of a detour for commercial and school traffic and also reduced costs.
SCRC selected the Valmont U-BEAM bridge solution for its light weight, shallow depth, low cost and ease of installation. The solution included galvanized, press-brake-formed U-BEAM steel tub girders, fabricated to match the depth and weight of the existing superstructure, along with precast concrete deck and integrated backwalls. This allowed the abutments to be reused and rehabilitated — eliminating expensive and time-consuming demolition and replacement work in the water.
The solution prevented additional dead load pressure on the spread footing abutments and required no modifications to the bearing elevations. It also limited roadway approach pavement replacement and associated costs. In addition, the bridge superstructures required no substructure concrete to be cast in the field, further expediting installation.
U-BEAM bridge components for the bridge was transported to the site in six individual units. Within hours, the superstructures were unloaded and set using two cranes. The ease of installation also permitted work to be performed by a five-person county maintenance crew. Guardrail was installed on the bridge deck utilizing anchor bolt holes that were precast into the bridge deck fascia units.
In just over a week, the St. Clair County Road Commission was able to successfully replace the existing deteriorated bridge with a new U-BEAM bridge solution structure boasting a projected service life of 100 years.