OPAC Consulting Engineers

Maysville Bridge


Ohio River, Maysville, Kentucky - Aberdeen, Ohio

Client:

Michael Baker Corp. / Kentucky Transportation Cabinet

Date:

Construction completed 2000

Scope of work:

Design Support, Design Services During Construction

Construction cost:

US $26 million

Services Performed:

  • Constructability review
  • Stage by stage erection analysis
  • Cable stressing protocol
  • Camber requirements
  • Geometry control

Issues:

  • Complex construction staging

The Maysville (William H. Harsha) Bridge carries U.S. Highway 62/68 across the Ohio River between Maysville, Kentucky and Aberdeen, Ohio, about 50 miles southeast of Cincinnati, Ohio. The cable-stayed bridge has a main span of 1,050 ft and side spans of 525 ft. Each tower consists of battered reinforced concrete cellular shafts. The 60 ft wide deck consists of steel edge girders supporting a composite precast panel deck. The deck was erected by cantilevering from the towers, with prefabricated stay cables, field bolted edge girders, and precast deck panels.

OPAC was engaged by the Prime Designer to validate the constructibility of the superstructure design by performing a construction sequence analysis incorporating all construction stages and loadings, including segment-by-segment erection of steelwork, placement of concrete, stressing of cables, and moving of formwork. OPAC developed a complete time-dependent erection sequence computer model in the SFRAME/S3D computer program, to track each construction stage and time dependent behavior through 27 years. OPAC also performed an independent review of the bridge design. These analyses provided the designers with revised deck details along with estimated construction stresses, deflections, and camber requirements that were subsequently used to revise the design and specifications for incorporation into the construction contract documents.

During construction, the SFRAME/S3D computer model was used by the designer to assure that bridge geometry and stresses would meet specified requirements at the end of construction. Any discrepancies between specified and measured bridge deflections were incorporated into the computer model to provide updated camber and cable stressing requirements. These efforts allowed the designer to review and approve the contractor's submittals.

This bridge won the American Consulting Engineers Council 2001 Grand Conceptor Award for Engineering Achievement and the James F. Lincoln Arc Welding Foundation 1999 Award.