Technical Description:
- Span: 48 ft
- Rise: 11 ft
- Length: 28 ft
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The Rockies Express Pipeline is under construction to carry natural gas from Rio Blanco County, Colorado, to Monroe County, located on the southeastern side of Ohio. At completion, the entire natural gas pipeline will be 1,679 miles in length - one of the largest in all of North America and one of the most significant to be constructed in the last 25 years.
The construction of the pipeline required a variety of specialized equipment and transporting as super loads was a challenge due to the number of insufficient bridges on County roads.
Before reaching Monroe County, the pipeline first needed to pass through Muskingum County, Ohio, home to a compressor facility. Douglas Davis, P.E. P.S., the Muskingum County Engineer, wanted to accommodate the contractor’s super loads, but first the load carrying capacity of an existing bridge needed to be increased. The solution was to replace the deteriorating structure with a new structure that met modern day standards.
Contech Engineered Solutions was chosen to provide a 48’ x 11’ precast CON/SPAN® Bridge System with precast headwalls and wingwalls as a replacement for the deteriorating structure.
“When closing a bridge for replacement, my goal is to re-open that roadway as soon as possible,” said Davis, P.E., P.S., Muskingum County Engineer. “We replaced the Blue Rock Creek steel beam bridge with a precast CON/SPAN structure, and it was in place and open to traffic within one week.”
Having the bridge installed on time allowed the pipeline company to continue to haul equipment to the job site and also ensured that the County would fulfill their obligation to the pipeline in a timely fashion. In addition to the fact that the entire system could be designed, built and installed in just one month, the complete CON/SPAN precast system was selected due to the low cost for materials.
“The cost of the precast structure fit our budget and allowed our funding to go farther,” said Davis. “I am very satisfied with the engineering, construction and delivery of Contech’s precast structures.”
Technical Description:
- Span: 48 ft
- Rise: 11 ft
- Length: 28 ft
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