ABSTRACT

The Extradosed pre-stress bridge concept is relatively new in the field of Structural

and Bridge Engineering. The first Extradosed Bridge was constructed by Japan in

1994. Since, it becomes a unique type of structure for its advantages over other

bridges. In this paper, detail study is carried out on historical context, origin and

structural behavior of Extradosed Bridge. About hundreds of Extradosed bridges

exist worldwide. To replace the existing bridge along the Connecticut Turnpike in

U.S. with a new signature bridge with a 100-year service life expectancy the design

team was tasked with creating a “memorial quality” structure commemorating the

veterans of Pearl Harbor. The result was the final selection of a 10-lane Extradosed

bridge spanning New Haven Harbor. The contractors at the Pearl Harbor Memorial

Bridge in New Haven, Connecticut, have battled relentless winters to complete the

first Extradosed bridge in the United States. Their success hinged on detailed winter

concreting plans developed to work safely and efficiently during very cold weather.

The plans contain multiple concrete mix designs as well as specific heating

configurations to keep the various placement areas within acceptable temperature

ranges necessary to produce quality concrete. The plans have shown to be effective,

allowing placements to occur through a number of snowstorms.

1
1. INTRODUCTION

From 1994 to 2008, over fifty extradosed bridges have been constructed worldwide,

and the preferred proportions and cable arrangements have evolved. While there are

many articles available on the design of specific extradosed bridges, very little has

been published on their design from a general perspective. The intrados is defined as

the interior curve of an arch, or in the case of cantilever-constructed girder bridge, the

soffit of the girder. Similarly, the extrados is defined as the uppermost surface of the

arch. The term ‘extradosed’ was coined by Jacques Mathivat (1988) to appropriately

describe an innovative cabling concept he developed for the Arrêt-Darré Viaduct , in

which external tendons were placed above the deck instead of within the cross-section

as would be the case in a girder bridge.

There is some debate over the boundary between cable-stayed and extradosed

bridges. Visually, extradosed bridges are most obviously distinguished from cable-

stayed bridges by their tower height in proportion to the main span. Extradosed

bridges typically have a tower height of less than one eighth of the main span,

corresponding to a cable inclination of 17 degrees.

Placing concrete in cold weather is problematic. The contractors at the Pearl Harbor

Memorial Bridge in New Haven, Connecticut, have battled relentless winters to

complete the first extradosed bridge in the United States. Their success hinged on

detailed winter concreting plans developed to work safely and efficiently during very

cold weather. The plans contain multiple concrete mix designs as well as specific

heating configurations to keep the various placement areas within acceptable

temperature ranges necessary to produce quality concrete. The plans have shown to

be effective, allowing placements to occur through a number of snowstorms.

2
2. STRUCTURAL CHARACTERISTICS COMPARISON

2.1. Girder bridge

A girder bridge is a basic, common type of bridge where the bridge deck is built on

top of such supporting beams, that have in turn been placed on piers and abutments

that support the span of the bridge. The types of beams used for girder bridges are

usually either I-beam girders or box girder beams that are made of steel or concrete

and shaped like an open box. Girder bridges are most commonly used for straight

bridges that are 10 m to 200 m long, such as light rail bridges, pedestrian overpasses,

or highway fly-overs. The load transmission is in a way that the stiff girder without

any stay cable carries all dead and live loads. The depth of the girder box will vary

from point to point.

Figure 1: Girder bridge

2.2 Cable stayed bridge

Cable-stayed bridge, bridge form in which the weight of the deck is supported by a

number of nearly straight diagonal cables in tension running directly to one or more

vertical towers. The towers transfer the cable forces to the foundations through

vertical compression. The tensile forces in the cables also put the deck into horizontal

3
compression. The cable-stayed bridge ranks first for a span range approximately from

175 to 400 m. The ratio of pylon height to central span length in cable stayed bridge

is normally 1/5. In the case of cable stayed bridges, a major part of the dead and live

loads is carried by the stay cables. The depth of the bridge will be same at all sections.

Figure 2: Cable stayed bridge

2.3 Extradosed bridges

An extradosed bridge employs a structure that combines the main elements of both

a girder bridge and a cable-stayed bridge. The extradosed bridge form is mostly

suited to medium-length spans between 80 m and 200 m. The ratio of pylon height to

central span length will be 1/9 to 1/10. An extradosed bridge possesses partial roots

from cable stayed bridges and girder bridges, in which the dead loads are distributed

between the stay cables and the girder, and a major part of the live load is carried by

the stiff girder. The depth variation will be based on the location and bridge

conditions, sometimes variable and sometimes constant depth is adopted.

Figure 3: Extradosed bridge

4
Table 1: Structural characteristics comparison

Ratio of

Type of Span pylon height Load Depth

bridge to central transmission

span length

Girder bridge Economical upto - Stiff girder Variable depth

100m span carries all

DL&LL

Extradosed Economical – 80m h/L=1/9 DL -stay Constant or

bridge to 200m span to cables and variable depth

1/10 the girder,

LL -stiff

girder

Cable stayed Economical – 175m h/L=1/5 DL&LL Constant depth

bridge to 400m span carried by

stay cables

Figure 4: Comparison between cantilever-constructed girder, extradosed, and cable-stayed

bridge types.

5
3. PEARL HARBOR MEMORIAL BRIDGE

When originally constructed in 1958, the existing six-lane Pearl Harbor Memorial

Bridge (locally known as the Q-Bridge) was the largest bridge along the Connecticut

Turnpike and included the longest plate girder span in the United States. However,

the existing bridge currently suffers from structural deficiencies and can no longer

accommodate today’s high-traffic volumes of over 160,000 vehicles per day, nearly

four times the volume of traffic it was originally designed to serve. As a result, a new

bridge was needed and planning for its replacement was initiated by the Connecticut

Department of Transportation (ConnDOT) in 1990.The new $635 million, 10-lane

Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge is the focal point of the $2.0 billion I-95 New Haven

Harbor Crossing Corridor Improvement Program, one of the largest multi-modal

transportation improvement initiatives in Connecticut history. In addition to the new

bridge, the program includes operational, safety, and capacity improvements to 7.2

miles of I-95, reconstruction of the adjacent I-91/I-95/Route 34 Interchange, and a

new commuter rail station.

A context-sensitive design approach focusing on public input was employed, which

included an architectural committee of key stakeholders. From this process, a decision

was made to replace the existing bridge with a new signature bridge with a 100-year

service life expectancy. The new bridge would continue to be named the Pearl Harbor

Memorial Bridge, and the design team was tasked with creating a “memorial quality”

structure commemorating the veterans of Pearl Harbor. The result was the final

selection of a 10-lane extradosed bridge spanning New Haven Harbor.

Extradosed bridges, while having an appearance similar to traditional cablestayed

bridges, behave differently and have several key distinctions. The extradosed design

6
utilizes shorter towers and a flatter stay-cable inclination than traditional cable-stayed

bridges, which results in the deck system being the primary resistance to dead and

live loads. For the New Haven Harbor crossing, the extradosed bridge design allowed

for increasing the main span to improve navigation and minimize environmental

impacts. The limited tower heights afforded by the extradosed design avoids

impacting air traffic from TweedNew Haven airport located east of the bridge,

whereas the taller towers of a traditional cable-stay bridge would have likely

infringed on FAA-required flight path clearances. The design was completed with bid

packages prepared for two alternatives for the main span; a three-span concrete

extradosed prestressed alternative, and steel composite extradosed alternative.

The bidding process resulted in construction of the concrete extradosed prestressed

concrete alternate, which began in April 2008, with construction of the northbound

in-water foundations. The northbound bridge was recently completed and opened to

traffic in June 2012. It is the first extradosed bridge constructed in the United States.

Construction of the southbound bridge will occur following demolition of the existing

bridge and is expected to be open to traffic by November 2016.The final

configuration of the bridge’s harbor crossing consists of a 157-m-long (515 ft) main

span with adjacent 75.85-m-long (249 ft) approach spans, providing 19.5 m (64 ft) of

vertical clearance over the approximately 73-m-wide (240 ft) navigation channel.

Beyond the main 308.7-m-long (1013 ft) harbor crossing, approach spans extend 484

m (1588 ft) to the west, and another 624 m (2047 ft) to the east, for an overall bridge

length of 1417 m (4649 ft).

7
 Figure 5: Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge

3.1. Main Span Superstructure

Segmental construction of the main span superstructure was performed utilizing the

balanced-cantilever method with cast-inplace concrete segments. Concrete box

segments are typically 4.36 m (14.3 ft) long, range from 29.9 to 33.6 m (98 to 110 ft)

wide, and have a nominal depth of 3.5 m (11.5 ft) that increases to 5 m (16 ft) at the

tower supports. Segments were constructed using high-performance concrete

featuring Type III cement for high early strength, a design compressive strength of 41

MPa (6.0 ksi), and 7% silica fume to decrease permeability. The northbound and

southbound concrete box-girder segments will each ultimately carry five 3.6-m-wide

(12 ft) lanes of traffic, an auxiliary lane varying in width, and two 3.6-m-wide (12 ft)

shoulders. During demolition of the existing bridge and construction of the

southbound bridge, the northbound segments will temporarily carry three lanes of

traffic in both directions. The initial concrete segments located at the tower piers are

referred to as “pier tables,” and contain internal diaphragms that transfer the

8
superstructure loads to disk bearings supported on the tower pier strut beams. The

pier tables were lengthened to 15.9 m (52 ft) during construction to include the first

pair of typical segments, creating additional deck area to ease installation of form

travelers on both ends of the pier table. Four travelers were employed, allowing for

segment construction to advance simultaneously in both directions from each tower.

The 54,500 kN (12,300 kip) bearings beneath the pier tables are the world’s largest

disk bearings ever installed on a bridge. Segment post-tensioning consists of

longitudinal cantilever tendons, transverse deck tendons, as well as draped transverse

external tendons at stay-cable locations that are deflected through the two central

vertical webs of the section. ASTM A416M, Grade 1860, low-relaxation strands are

utilized throughout. The four longitudinal cantilever tendons anchoring in the top slab

of both the back span and main-span segments were stressed after segments achieved

a strength of 28 MPa (4 ksi), and varied in size from 17 to 27 strands. Transverse

deck post-tensioning consists of four-strand tendons, typically spaced at 2.18 m (7.2

ft). The 19-strand draped transverse external tendons were provided to transfer

superstructure forces to the stay-cables, and were stressed after casting the stay

diaphragms and prior to installation of the stay cables.

Figure 6: Typical cross section, cast-in-place segmental main span unit

9
3.2. Stay-Cable System

The northbound and southbound main span superstructures are each carried by a

series of 64 individual stay cables parallel to each other in a “harp” pattern. The stays

anchor in pairs to the edge beams of the cast-in-place concrete segments and to the

steel anchor boxes within the tower legs. Each stay consists of 48 individual 15.2-

mm-diameter (0.6 in.), 7-wire, low-relaxation strands up to 66.5 m (218 ft) in length,

each greased and encapsulated in a tightly adhered highdensity polyethylene (HDPE)

coating for corrosion protection during the strand manufacturing process. These 48

strands are, in turn, encased in a co-extruded HDPE sheathing pipe with an outer

diameter of 225 mm (9 in.) that remains ungrouted during its service life. Stay-cable

strand installation was performed using the elongation method to control variations in

individual strand force, and then stressed to 60% maximum ultimate tensile strength

(MUTS) from within the tower anchor boxes using monostrand jacks. The 60%

MUTS limit for the cable strands is higher for the extrodosed bridge design than in

conventional cable stayed bridges, which utilize an upper stress limit of 45% MUTS.

Because of the geometric layout of the stay-cables and the relatively large stiffness of

the box girder superstructure, the stress range and overall contribution to staycable

force from live loads is significantly less than that of a typical cable-stayed structure,

therefore justifying the use of the higher allowable cable stresses on the new

extradosed bridge. Strand stressing was typically performed in three steps. First,

strands were installed and stressed individually to a force level equivalent to 15%

MUTS. This low force level allowed internal “cheese plate” type strand centering

damper assemblies to be slid down the galvanized steel guide pipes near each

anchorage and bolted in their final position. The second stage of tensioning was

performed to approximately 50% of the final stay-cable force. A final, third stage of

10
strand tensioning was then performed to fine-tune the strand forces to closely match

the target stay force value. The adjustable anchorages were then capped and greased.

Figure 7: Stressing a single strand using a

monostrand tensioning jack.

3.3. Cold weather concreting

The contractor at the Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge developed a cold weather

concreting plan especially for the expected cold winters of Connecticut. This plan was

modified to meet all types of concrete placements necessary during the job. As

defined in the documents submitted to the Connecticut DOT, cold weather concreting

was to be executed from October 15 to April 15.

3.3.1.Placement Area

The contractor’s cold weather concreting plan required all contact surfaces of the

placement area to be at a minimum temperature of 1.70C (35 0

F).This had to be

accomplished by a suitable method approved by the engineer. For structural concrete

11
placements, the approved methods included the use of heaters, glycol tubing, and

insulating blankets Portable heaters were used for the Q Bridge project. They proved

to be very effective and durable. The models used ran on kerosene or diesel, had a

maximum output just under 316,517 kJ(300,000 Btu/h) and an airflow rate of 70

m3/min (2,500 ft3/min),and were capable of operating in -290C (-200F) ambient

temperature. As with all combustion-powered machines, the exhaust of the heaters

needed to be monitored. For this reason, the heaters were always placed outside the

formwork, and the hot air was transmitted into the forms through a hose system.

A portable heater does a good job of heating the material contained within the

formwork, but the formwork itself must reach the required 1.70C (350F). For heating

the formwork to the required temperature, glycol tubing was used. The tubing is

wrapped along the exterior of the formwork and secured in place by the insulating

blankets. At this jobsite, hydronic ground heaters were used. The term hydronic

simply means heat transfer by means of a circulation fluid. With these construction

hydronic heaters, the unit’s boiler heats a propylene glycol mixture; this mixture is

similar to a food-grade antifreeze that effectively conducts heat. The warm fluid is

then pumped through long loops of heater hose. The heater used at the Q Bridge

operated with 83% efficiency with an output of over 316,517 kJ (300,000 Btu/h).

Although these heaters run on diesel fuel, they have 914 m (3,000 ft) of hose,

allowing the machine to be positioned where exhaust is not an issue. Even with

hydronic heaters, gaining the necessary temperature would not have been possible

without the use of insulating blankets. The blankets were woven, reinforced high-

density polyethylene (HDPE) and had a thermal resistance, or R-value, of 2.8W/m2.K

(0.493 Btu/h.ft2.0F). The cold weather concreting plan required, as a minimum, that

the formwork be double wrapped to ensure that all seams were enclosed and exterior

12
airflow avoided. Although the R-value of the blankets being used is not exceptional,

in combination with this requirement, hydronic heaters, and air heaters, the blankets

create an effective heating scheme. On top of being effectual, the multiple-component

system allows for a gradual cooling process after the required concrete strength has

been reached.

Figure 8: Column form being heated in preparation for a concrete placement

Figure 9 : Hydronic heater tubes (foreground) are wrapped around the column formwork
inside the insulating blanket

13
4. ADVANTAGES
This new typology, generally recognized as an intermediate solution between cable

stayed bridges and cantilever constructed prestressed box-girder bridges, because

these take advantages of design and constructions methods of the other two

typologies, has become an interesting option. One of the advantages of Extradosed

bridges is that this ratio can be accommodated depending upon site constraints

without many impacts. As the structure is similar to Girder Bridge and looks similar

to cable stayed bridge increases the aesthetic quality of extradosed bridges. The

superstructure is simpler and lower tower height than cable stayed bridges the

construction become more easier. Less material consumption of super structure and

less loading on foundation increases the saving and the cost will be less.

14
5. EXTRADOSED BRIDGES IN INDIA

There are many extradosed bridges in India. Some of them are:

5.1. Nivedita setu (Second Vivekananda bridge)

Nivedita Setu (also called Second Vivekananda Bridge ) is a multi-span extradosed

bridge completed 2007 over Hooghly River connecting Howrah with Kolkata,

in West Bengal. It runs parallel to and about 50 m downstream of the

old Vivekananda Setu opened in 1932. The bridge is named after Sister Nivedita, the

social worker-disciple of Swami Vivekananda. Belghoria Expressway that connects

the meeting point of NH 16 with NH 19 at Dankuni to NH 12, NH

112, Dumdum/Kolkata Airport and northern parts of Kolkata passes over the bridge.

The bridge is designed to carry 48,000 vehicles per day.

Figure 10: Nivedita setu

15
5.2. 3rd Narmada bridge

The New Narmada Bridge (or the 3rd Narmada Bridge) is an extra dosed bridge,

constructed at Bharuch, India. It is a 1,344 m (4,409 ft) long bridge, built over

river Narmada on NH-8. The four-lane bridge is a part of larger project involving six

laning of a section of NH-8 between Vadodara and Surat. It runs parallel to Sardar

Bridge. It is the extradosed bridge with the longest spans in India, 144 m (472 ft)

long. The bridge was constructed by Larsen & Toubro and Dywidag Systems

International (DSI-Bridgecon). The estimated cost of bridge is ₹379 crore (equivalent

to ₹452 crore or US$57 million in 2020). This bridge was inaugurated by Indian

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 7 March 2017.

Figure 11: 3rd Narmada bridge

16
5.3. Arrah-Chhapra bridge

Arrah–Chhapra Bridge or Veer Kunwar Singh Setu is the longest multi-

span extradosed bridge in the world with a main bridge length of 1,920 m (6,300 ft).

The bridge crosses over the Ganges River in India,

connecting Arrah in Bhojpur district to Chhapra in Saran district of Bihar state. The

bridge provides a roadway link between the northern and southern parts of Bihar. The

bridge opened for public use on 11 June 2017. As of April 2021, it is the 9th longest

bridge above water in India.

Figure 12: Arrah-Chappra bridge

17
6. CONCLUSION
Though extradosed bridges are the extension of girder bridges, have striking visual

resemblance to cable stay bridges. Thus it imbibes the ease of design and construction

associated with girder bridges while giving the option to the designer of enhancing

the aesthetic factors. There is an urgent need to define and clearly distinguish between

extradosed cable system from that of stay cable system. In the absence of the same,

there is a clear danger of adopting stay cable technology for extradosed bridges which

defeats the very purpose of conception of extradosed bridges.

18
7. REFERENCES

1. Foley, T., & Schexnayder, C. (2015). Placing winter concrete: pearl harbor

memorial bridge. Practice periodical on structural design and construction, 20(3),

04014037.

2. Meng, X., & Zhang, C. (2014). Extradosed and intradosed cable-stayed bridges

with continuous cables: conceptual consideration. Journal of Bridge

Engineering, 19(1), 5-14.

3. Merritt Jr, R., Bonzon, W. S., & Dunham, J. S. (2012). Pearl Harbor Memorial

Bridge.

4. Mermigas, K. K. (2008). Behaviour and design of extradosed bridges (Doctoral

dissertation).

5. Ali, K., Katsuchi, H., & Yamada, H. (2021). Comparative study on structural

redundancy of cable-stayed and extradosed bridges through safety assessment of their

stay cables. Engineering, 7(1), 111-123.

6. Kasuga, A. (2015, July). Multi-span extradosed bridges. In Multi-Span Large

Bridges: International Conference on Multi-Span Large Bridges (pp. 1-3).

19