Construction crews on the $158 million Ohio SR 8 bridge replacement project started off the new year with a major milestone that saw the "launching" of the final piece of structural steel on the new southbound structure.
"We're hydraulically launching the bridge girders, instead of conventionally setting them," said Josh Smith, project engineer. "A conventional set would be a crane picking up the steel and setting it on piers. Instead, we're basically starting at one end of the bridge, and we build it in place and then push it out over the valley. In this case, we're working from north to south. We kind of worked our way backwards, pushing the steel to each next location until ultimately, our last push in January landed on the rear abutment."
The bridge project contract was awarded to The Ruhlin Company/Great Lakes SR 8 Joint Venture in spring 2023 and began in August 2023. It involves replacing the "iconic" existing bridge that was built in 1953. At 1,500-ft. long and 180-ft. high, the blue-painted steel bridge carries SR 8 over railroads, city streets and the Little Cuyahoga River and sees approximately 114,000 vehicles a day. It has undergone numerous repairs over the decades, prompting the decision that replacement would be more cost efficient than continued maintenance. The existing bridge has three lanes in each direction. It will be replaced with side-by-side southbound and northbound bridges, each with four lanes as well as shoulders.
This is the first time ODOT has used the hydraulic bridge launching method, Smith said. The first section was launched in July and spanned 196 ft. That was followed in August by the launch of the next section, 230-ft. in length. Each section was pushed from pier to pier using rollers and hydraulic jacks which moved sections at about 40 ft. per hour. A total of six launches — totaling 1,600 ft. and 8.2 million lbs. of steel — took place through the final launch in January.
"Really, it's one of a very few projects using the launching method in the nation," Smith said. "There are things to overcome in that regard alone. The idea of launching, instead of conventionally setting steel, was a challenge. But, between myself, the design team, the contractor and their enthusiasm, we were able to overcome any challenge."
The decision to use incremental launching came about because of conditions on the site, according to Smith.
"We've got railroads on the southern slope, powerlines, a 24/7 bus garage and school facility and waterways," he said. "All those things are congested on the south slope, which really limits any kind of access to able to build it conventionally, and to be able to build it with a crane. So that leaned us toward launching. Not to mention, we're also building everything upwards of 180 feet in the air, so that limits what size crane and how much we can pick up. Things get really large at those heights for equipment."
While the project in terms of size is not particularly unusual, the girder heights are larger than commonly used, Smith said.
"We have 10-foot girder heights to make all this work and make the steel able to be launched, so some of our sized girders are a little bit different than other cases. Our girder size is really dictated around our span links and the fact that we're launching. We really had to distance our pier locations from each other, which caused us to have to beef up the steel a little bit. Other locations, other projects, might have the height, but they may put the piers closer together that can reduce the overall steel size."
Bridge columns on the project range from 80-ft. to approximately 160-ft. in height.
Crews are removing the temporary equipment used for launching the structural steel and are beginning the preparation work for laying the concrete deck.
Motorists have seen minimal impacts during construction as traffic has continued on the existing SR 8 bridge. When construction is completed on the southbound structure, traffic will be shifted onto it, the old bridge demolished and work on the northbound bridge begun.
The project is slated for completion in 2028. CEG
