Project:

Project Description:

  Indiana County Commissioners

Wilson Street Bridge

This project involved the design and construction management of a 50'-0" clear span adjacent box beam structure over Dixon Run in Clymer Borough, Pennsylvania, Indiana County.  Radical realignment and skew of the structure was proposed to return the waterway to its natural course and prevent flooding that frequently occurred in the immediate area.  The structure was completed in December, 1995, just prior to the January 19, 1996 flood that washed out several bridges in the area.  The Wilson Street Bridge was the only structure in the Clymer area to remain above the floodwaters.  It was subsequently praised in the January 20, 1996 edition of the Indiana Gazette as the only access to flooding homes north of the Borough by the Clymer Fire Chief, "Thank God for the new Wilson Street Bridge because it was built higher over Dixon Run than the old one.  The bridge was money well spent by the County Commissioners because we would never have been able to get the people across the old bridge."  Later in the year the bridge received the 1996 Effective Use of Liquid Fuels Safety Improvements Award given by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation in a competition encompassing all local projects throughout Pennsylvania.

Project:

Project Description:

  Indiana County Commissioners

Arch Bridge

This project involved the construction of a 50'-0" clear span steel multi-girder structure with a composite, reinforced deck.   The existing structure, built in 1914, was a single lane, concrete arch bridge with concrete spandrel walls retaining the dirt roadway fill.  The structure was deemed historic, and recordation done for Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission, before final design was completed.  The width of the hydraulic opening was inadequate to ensure that flooding would not occur, since floodplain on either side of the channel is not present.  Due to the location of the roadway, moving the bridge was not possible, and increasing the span as needed (80’ was determined necessary) made each approach a 90° turn.  Close cooperation with the Army Corps of Engineers was necessary to obtain dispensation for an interim solution, since the site is in the backwater area of the Conemaugh River Lake Dam.  The structure span was increased from 39’-0” to 50’-0” and the far approach was depressed to create a channel for floodwaters without overtopping or increasing backwater.  The depression of the far approach and location made an advisory speed limit necessary, as well as an extreme super elevation of the roadway and bridge.

Structural Engineering Page One