Prefabricated Bridge Elements and Systems
"Get in, get out, stay out."
Why Use?
More Information
See the following for more information about the advantages of prefabrication and the use of prefabrication for specific bridge elements and systems in specific US bridges:
Features
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Prefabricated bridge elements and systems may be manufactured on-site or off-site, under controlled conditions, and brought to the job location ready to install. Using prefabricated bridge elements and systems facilitates meeting key public needs:
- Minimizes traffic impacts of bridge construction projects
- Improves construction zone safety
- Makes construction less disruptive for the environment
- Makes bridge designs more constructible
- Increases quality and lowers life-cycle costs
Traffic and environmental impacts are reduced, constructibility is increased, and safety is improved because work is moved out of the right-of-way to a remote site, minimizing the need for lane closures, detours, and use of narrow lanes. Prefabrication of bridge elements and systems can be accomplished in a controlled environment without concern for job-site limitations, which increases quality and can lower costs. Prefabricated bridge elements especially tend to reduce costs where use of sophisticated techniques would be needed for cast-in-place, such as in long water crossings or higher structures, like multi-level interchanges.
Prefabricated bridge elements and systems is one of FHWA's Priorities, Market-Ready Technologies and Innovations. More information is available at the R&T Web site www.fhwa.dot.gov/rnt4u
