Bridge Bundle 2 Completed

Completed: Lycoming County Bridge Bundle 2

Bundle 2: Precast Concrete Structures

Bundle 2 of 4 of the Lycoming County Bridge Bundling Program has been completed! Bundle 2 consisted entirely of precast concrete structures: arches and box culverts.

The use of precast concrete over cast-in-place alternatives helps with quality control and minimizes road closures. The arches, headwalls, wingwalls, and footers are all precast items. These are cast in a climate-controlled facility to ensure tolerancing, fitment, and strength is acceptable prior to shipping. Generally, the footers and all of the precast items take only a few days to install, much less time than any cast-in-place alternative. Once precast is installed, only backfilling and roadwork dictate the remaining road closures. Guiderail will also be installed at each site to best protect roadway users while crossing each structure.

Box culverts were determined to be the practical choice for Loyalsock Township and Jersey Shore Borough. Boxes were a great fit for urban low-rise sites with higher traffic counts. Boxes also allowed for minimal footprint on-site to adjacent homes, utilities, and the connection to the existing structure. The Concrete Box Culverts replaced existing degrading and undersized concrete culverts. In both cases the new structures improved the existing storm channels’ hydraulic capacity, reducing the risk of flooding to the neighboring properties during heavy rains, as well as providing long life spans, reducing their overall long-term cost to the municipalities who own them.

Sheridan Street Lift Day
Sheridan Street Bridge Completed
Inside the completed Wilson Street Bridge
Wilson Street Lift Day

Precast arches were chosen for Franklin, Susquehanna, and Moreland Townships due to stream and site requirements. These concrete arches replaced two eroding pipe culverts and one structurally deficient beam bridge respectively. Each concrete arch was sized with an increased hydraulic opening allowing them to pass larger storm events with a lower water surface elevation, effectively reducing the potential for upstream flooding due to hydraulic constriction at each site. Erosion and scour were furthermore limited by the incorporation of concrete wingwalls, headwalls, and endwall sized and oriented to promote natural stream flow and protect immediate streambanks from high flows and incoming flows from site drainage.