How to Replace a Destroyed Bridge in a Hurry

The Washington State Department of Transportation is rushing to put in

place a temporary bridge to restore traffic across I-5 at the Skagit River and
is fast-tracking a permanent replacement.

By Tim Newcomb
May 30, 2013

Illustration of the temporary Skagit River bridge

Most states don't want a gaping hole in their major interstate disrupting the traffic of roughly
71,000 daily vehiclesone so prominent even Google Maps takes notice. Now that the
emergency response to the destruction of the I-5 bridge over the Skagit River in Washington
State is past, officials at the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) are racing
to put in a temporary span to restore interstate traffic, as well as developing a fast-tracked
permanent fix.

Temporary Bridge

Fortunately for WSDOT, the Skagit River crossing isn't a tricky site, and preliminary reports show
that the bridge was not damaged beyond the 160 feet that fell into the water. With the in-water
concrete piers in fine shape and the other three spans of the 1111-foot bridge in good-enough
condition, the basic foundation is already in place for a temporary fix. That means a temporary
bridge could be carrying cars by mid-June, a mere three weeks after the bridge came crashing
down and less than two weeks after debris is fully removed from the site, which is ongoing this
week.
The temporary fix will include two 160-foot-long spans, both 24 feet wide (narrower than the rest
of the bridge). It's a modern riff on the Bailey bridgea temporary bridge style made popular in
World War II for its modular ease of build and lightweight steelthat will allow for quick assembly
on-site. The Bailey was popular during the war because it was light enough to haul by truck and
use manpower to lift small segments. New Jerseybased Acrow Bridges has taken this mid-
1900s wartime tool and turned it into a modernand worldwidebusiness, showcased by
bridges from Chile to the World Trade Center site in New York.

A Bailey bridge in the U.K.

Acrow already has shipped temporary parts to Mount Vernon, Wash., on the southern bank of the
Skagit River. Using steel trusses and modular construction units that fit on trucks for quick
transport, crews will splice together this prefabricated bridge in a matter of days. During
construction, crews can cantilever the pieces in place from one side of the river or use cranes to
place the segments. If they need more length, they simply add another component. That's how
easy these premade bridges are.

The narrow lanes and lightweight structure will limit the size and weight of crossing vehicles and
require slower speeds over the spans, but at least the bridge will give detour routes a bit of a
breather. Then comes the permanent fix.

Fast-Tracking a Permanent Bridge

As cars begin driving the temp bridge this summer, crews will be building a permanent
replacement in the river right next to the temporary structure. This type of bridge construction has
become common, as new bridges can replace old ones in a matter of days when constructed off-
site or nearby and then simply moved into place. Scott Nettleton, a T.Y. Lin senior bridge
engineer, says accelerated bridge construction has turned into another design tool.

In Washington State plans haven't been finalized. Crews expect to build temporary piers in the
river to support a platform adjacent to the collapsed span. That's where you'll see a new bridge
section built. The new bridge will be a steel girder, a style that offers structural support below the
bridge deck and not in a web above and to the side like the way the rest of the Skagit River
bridge is built. The new Skagit section will use steel rather than concrete to make the bridge
lighter, putting less strain on the 1955-built concrete piers. Plus, girders take much less time to
construct than complicated truss styles.

Once the fully assembled bridge is set, crews will remove the temporary bridge and use beams
and giant rollers to slowly scoot the new structure onto the old foundation. Once in placeand
after some final intricate positioningthe translator beams and temporary river supports will get
removed.
Residents throughout the West have seen dozens upon dozens of fast-tracked bridges go up in
recent years, especially in Utah where accelerated construction is the norm. In nonemergency
situations, crews often can replace bridges with less disruption. By building the components away
from the daily flow of traffic, crews don't have to stick with the normal sequence of construction,
says Benjamin Tang, an Oregon Department of Transportation bridge engineer. Add in a basic
style with a large nearby footprint and fast-tracking becomes even slicker.

What this new bridge won't do is change the fact that the remaining three spans crossing the
Skagit are functionally obsolete. But the chance of a similar failure on these spans remains low,
and that's a good thing: America is full of old bridges that need to be replaced.

Tim Newcomb covers infrastructure and sports for Popular Mechanics. Follow him on Twitter at
@tdnewcomb.