Tie-Down Replacement for Weirton-Steubenville Veterans Memorial Bridge

摘要

The Veterans Memorial Bridge linking Weirton, West Virginia and Steubenville, Ohio is an asymmetricalcable-stayed structure with a single tower. Main span lengths are 820 feet and 688 feet. The bridgeaccommodates six lanes of traffic on a 92-foot wide deck. Due to the asymmetrical arrangementsignificant uplift forces are induced at the end of the shorter span. These forces were originallytransferred through bolted steel tie-downs into large concrete counter weights integral with theabutment. The bridge was opened to traffic in May of 1990. The fracture critical tie-down assembliesshowed signs of distress due to fatigue failure of some of their anchor bolts and needed replacementafter only 14 years of service. This paper explains the causes of the poor performance of the initial tiedownsand discusses design and construction of the replacement systems. Installation of a redundantdual tie-down system that employs strand cables and inverted bearings was successfully completed inApril of 2009.