Caldwell Road

When Wayne Township in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania called on Senate Engineering Co. to provide replacement options for an aging bridge on Caldwell Road, community officials knew they needed quick answers to meet impending American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding deadlines.

Within minutes, Amber Yon, a project engineer for Senate Engineering, pulled up the Design Your Own Bridge (DYOB)online tool developed by Contech on her computer to provide a speedy conceptual drawing. The DYOB tool allows users to select a pre-set structure type such as plate, precast or truss bridge. Once Yon filled out the prescribed fields in the tool,including approximate dimensions and elevations of the new bridge, the online design program automatically created the bridge drawings, typically within about an hour.

Yon submitted a DYOB plan for the Caldwell Road bridge that incorporated a CON/SPAN precast concrete structure on August 5, 2009. After a swift analysis and cost evaluation, Senate Engineering incorporated bridge drawings for a 24’ x 8’ CON/SPAN^® Bridge System. The initial DYOB drawings were then developed into the full plan set. The Caldwell Road bridge plans were presented to the Township by the end of August. The Caldwell Road Bridge project subsequently bid in October 2009 and was ordered by the successful bidder in mid-December.

“Because this project was an accelerated ARRA-funded bridge replacement, using the DYOB design tools allowed us to insert the CON/SPAN structure into our site plans and quickly deliver a comprehensive set ofplans to the Township,” said Bill Braun, principle of Senate Engineering. “Since that time, this tool has helped save us valuable time on several bridge projects and gives our customers an instant visual.”