Minnesota Uses New Bridge-Building Tech to Slash Road-Closure
Time
The Minnesota Department of Transportation used a giant automated machine called a Self-Propelled Modular Transporter to move a finished bridge into position over the weekend, and reduced the overall road closure time by two months.
A first for MnDOT, the move took place Aug. 18 over Interstate 35E in St. Paul at the Maryland Avenue Bridge site, where crews have been working all summer long building the bridge deck and structure on the west side of the roadway.
The two 105-foot spans that were built about 1,000 feet south of the crossing. The SPMT, with 352 wheels, took about two hours to move each span into place. Traffic was diverted beginning a few hours earlier.
Saturday's event was a pilot demonstration of SPMT technology that has cut the duration of highway construction-related road closures in Utah and Arizona nearly in half. As a result, MnDOT shaved about two months from road closures in St. Paul.
"With traditional construction methods, the Maryland Bridge would have been closed for twice as long, nearly four months," said MnDOT Commissioner Tom Sorel. "Instead, the closure will be reduced to about 60 days."
Crews have additional work to finish before the bridge is open to traffic in mid-September.
Watch a time-lapse video compressing the 12-hour process into just over a minute:
Please feel free to comment to any of the posts on this blog. The intent is to start discussions on the subject content. If you have articles for post or comments about the blog in general please contact: Thank you Preferred Logistics----------- www.preferredlogistics.biz
The Minnesota Department of Transportation used a giant automated machine called a Self-Propelled Modular Transporter to move a finished bridge into position over the weekend, and reduced the overall road closure time by two months.
A first for MnDOT, the move took place Aug. 18 over Interstate 35E in St. Paul at the Maryland Avenue Bridge site, where crews have been working all summer long building the bridge deck and structure on the west side of the roadway.
The two 105-foot spans that were built about 1,000 feet south of the crossing. The SPMT, with 352 wheels, took about two hours to move each span into place. Traffic was diverted beginning a few hours earlier.
Saturday's event was a pilot demonstration of SPMT technology that has cut the duration of highway construction-related road closures in Utah and Arizona nearly in half. As a result, MnDOT shaved about two months from road closures in St. Paul.
"With traditional construction methods, the Maryland Bridge would have been closed for twice as long, nearly four months," said MnDOT Commissioner Tom Sorel. "Instead, the closure will be reduced to about 60 days."
Crews have additional work to finish before the bridge is open to traffic in mid-September.
Watch a time-lapse video compressing the 12-hour process into just over a minute:
Please feel free to comment to any of the posts on this blog. The intent is to start discussions on the subject content. If you have articles for post or comments about the blog in general please contact: Thank you Preferred Logistics----------- www.preferredlogistics.biz
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