July 18, 2019 1:00 pm
Dennis Heckman, P.E., State Bridge Engineer, Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT); and Gregory Kuntz, P.E., St. Louis Bridge Section Manager, HDR
Webinar Documents:
Missouri DOT's 2018 Poplar Street Bridge Lateral Slide - pdf of presentation
Q&A Session - pdf
News - July 18, 2019 - pdf of presentation
Description: The Poplar Street Bridge is a 50-year-old, 2165-ft-long five-span structure which carries I-55 and I-64 over the Mississippi River in downtown St. Louis, connecting Missouri and Illinois. The bridge has twin eastbound and westbound superstructures consisting of two variable depth steel box girders with orthotropic steel decks on a shared substructure. The Missouri Department of Transportation was the lead state on a joint project with the Illinois Department of Transportation. A unique aspect of the project was the sliding of the existing eastbound superstructure in lieu of a traditional widening. Based on a review of highway bridge replacements to date, this project is the largest lateral bridge slide by deck area and the 2nd longest lateral slide by bridge length in the United States. The eastbound superstructure was successfully slid 9 feet to the south onto widened piers in March 2018 over the course of 2.5 hours. The eastbound and westbound superstructures were then connected together using a concrete deck on a stringer-floor-beam type cross frame system which added redundancy and improved the performance of the structure. This presentation includes design and construction details and lessons learned.
Presentation Photos/Graphics:
1) Poplar Street Bridge Interchange showing proposed improvements
2) Schematic of Poplar Street Bridge lateral slide
3) Jacking equipment at Pier 5 widening to accommodate bridge slide
4) Slide equipment at Abutment No. 1 prior to bridge slide