Prioritization Strategy for Replacing Florida’s Deck Panel Bridges

摘要

Precast deck panel bridges were first used in the construction of highway bridges in Illinois in thernearly 1950’s. This type of construction offers significant economies; the stay-in-place (SIP) panelrncombined with a cast-in-place (CIP) topping can considerably reduce construction time as fieldrnforming is only needed for the exterior girder overhangs. Florida has approximately 200 precastrndeck panel bridges. Despite successful performance in other states, precast deck panel bridges haverna long history of premature deterioration in Florida that has led to excessive maintenance andrnimpacts to the traveling public. A program is underway to systematically replace selected deckrnpanel bridges. During the replacement of these bridges the opportunity was taken to conduct on-siterninvestigations on bridges that were in different states of disrepair. This paper provides an overviewrnof the research project.