The New Ship Channel Bridge on the Sam Houston Tollway
American Segmental Bridge Institute | Summer 2020 Segments
A PRECAST SEGMENTAL CABLE-STAYED BRIDGE FOR
HARRIS COUNTY TOLL ROAD AUTHORITY (HCTRA)
A completed precast segment is lifted from the long-line casting machine using a rail gantry crane.
The 2,720' (1,320' main span) signature cable-stayed bridge consists of twin 81'-9" wide and 12' deep precast concrete segmental superstructures that will support four lanes of traffic in both the southbound and northbound directions.
Construction is underway on the New Ship Channel Bridge in Houston, Texas for the Harris County Toll Road Authority. The 2,720' (1,320' main span) signature cable-stayed bridge consists of twin 81'-9" wide and 12' deep precast concrete segmental superstructures that will support four lanes of traffic in both the southbound and northbound directions. The on-site casting yard adjacent to the existing bridge is currently producing match-cast segments using two sophisticated long-line formwork systems. Diagonal concrete struts, located within the box girder interior, are precast at the casting yard and tied into each segment’s rebar cage in one of four jigs. After the pre-tied rebar cage and struts are lifted into the long-line casting machine, the movable bulkhead is surveyed and final QA/QC checks are performed. Concrete is batched and delivered to the forms from a dedicated concrete batch plant near the project site. The long-line casting machine produces segments in continuous casting groups of up to 14 segments with a total length of almost 130'.
Flying a completed rebar cage to the long-line mold.
Upon completion of the casting group, the segments are removed from the long-line molds using an overhead rail gantry crane and then transported to the segment storage area with a 160-ton capacity straddle crane. The adjacent storage yard is large enough to accommodate more than 500 precast segments.