CSVT River Bridge

Winfield, PA

Award: Durability

Project Team

Owner: Pennsylvania Department of Transportation

Contractor: Trumbull Corporation

Concrete: Central Builders Supply Company

Slag Cement: Lehigh Hanson

This project featured a 15 span bridge that is 4500 ft (1400 m) long and 180 ft (60 m) at peak elevation. The project will result in significant improvements when it comes to traffic and overall travel along this congested corridor. The northern section includes the construction of a new bridge, approximately 4500 ft long, to cross over the West Branch of the Susquehanna River. The northern section also includes two new interchanges: the Winfield Interchange—an interchange with U.S. Route 15 just north of the Snyder/Union County line in Union Township, Union County, and the PA Route 147 Interchange that includes a relocated Ridge Road (Township Road 703/State Route 1024) in Point Township, Northumberland County.

The new bridge includes 15 spans with piers that range in height from approximately 60 to 180 ft (20 to 60 m). Its cross-section includes eight steel beams that are approximately 10 ft (3 m) high. It has been constructed of approximately 62,000 yd3 (47,000 m3) of concrete and approximately 20,000 tons of steel. It is PennDOT’s eighth-longest bridge

Slag cement was used in the mass concrete and all other concrete on the project to increase strength, reduce permeability, improve resistance to deicers, and inhibit reinforcing bar corrosion. In addition, slag cement enhanced the finish properties of the concrete and also durability and permeability were greatly improved.

Challenges:

As with any bridge construction, there are many challenges encountered along the way. Construction continued throughout the winter months when possible. In addition, there were winter and spring flooding on multiple occasions. As the causeway was removed half way through the project, that left 2-1/2 spans of the bridge over water and a new placement procedure had to be developed. This new placement method consisted of pumping the concrete 1000 to 1200 ft over the water. A new mixture design was developed to aid in the pumping of the concrete and GGBFS was an integral part of the mixture.

Over 35,700 yd (32,600 m) of mass concrete was used in the footer, plinths, and piers while over 9800 yd (9000 m) of bridge deck mixture was pumped over 1000 ft (300 m) for placement. The mixture designs for all classes of concrete incorporated GGBFS from 25 to 50% of total cementitious.

The following link will shows a video that was taken last month of the project. the bridge can be seen at about the 9:30 minute mark:

https://www.facebook.com/1980719198852836/videos/145792794032903

Project History:

The CSVT project is one that has long been in the making. Traffic has been growing in the corridor of routes 15 and 147 in Northumberland, Union, and Snyder counties for decades. In the 1970s, PennDOT began construction of the Selinsgrove-Shamokin Dam Bypass. However, construction stopped in 1978 due to lack of funds. Only the Selinsgrove portion was completed. Part of the bypass can be seen when continuing onto the freeway section at U.S. 11/15 in Selinsgrove. The freeway section ends at a partially abandoned interchange with U.S. Route 522. Once the CSVT project is completed in 2027, it will create approximately 13 miles (21 km) of new four-lane, limited access highway. Overall, it involves four interchanges, 22 highway structures, and approximately 9 million yd3 (7 million m3) of earthwork. Its footprint will be approximately 800 acres (300 ha), and its total estimated cost is $865 million (including design, right-of-way, utilities, environmental mitigation, construction, and inflation).

2015:

The Central Susquehanna Valley Transportation (CSVT) project entails the construction of approximately 12.4 miles (20 km) of new, limited access, four-lane highway extending from the existing U.S. Route 11/15 Interchange in Monroe Township (north of Selinsgrove) in Snyder County to PA Route 147 in West Chillisquaque Township (at a location just south of the PA Route 45 interchange near Montandon) in Northumberland County. The new highway includes a connector to PA Route 61 in Shamokin Dam and a new bridge crossing over the West Branch of the Susquehanna River extending from Union Township, Union County to Point Township, Northumberland County.