Delaware's First All-Composite Bridge: Fid-Bau Portal

Delaware's First All-Composite Bridge

Chajes, Michael J. / Gillespie, Jr., John W. / Mertz, Dennis R. / Shenton, III, Harry W. / Eckel, II, Douglas A.

Due to the continued deterioration of our nation's bridges, combined with the increasing cost of bridge maintenance, our bridge inventory continues to experience a backlog of structurally deficient bridges. One potential solution is the implementation of new high-performance materials. Because of their many beneficial characteristics including being lightweight, having high strength- and stiffness-to-weight ratios, and being corrosion resistant, advanced polymer composites represent one such alternative. An effort led by a design group consisting of researchers from the University of Delaware (UD), engineers from the Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), and engineers and fabricators at Hardcore Composites and James Julian, Inc. of Delaware resulted in the replacement of the superstructure of a 72-year-old bridge with fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) material. This project resulted in the installation of one of the first state owned all-composite bridges in the country. Bridge 1-351 is located on Business Rt. 896 over Muddy Run, in Glasgow, Delaware. The original bridge, built in 1926 and widened in 1936, consisted of a reinforced concrete deck on steel beams (with concrete-encased steel facia beams) supported on concrete abutments. Due to deterioration of the beams, the existing bridge was in need of repair. Rehabilitation of the substructure using traditional materials and replacement of the superstructure using advanced composites was proposed. On November 20, 1998, Bridge 1-351 was opened to traffic. This paper will provide a brief overview of the design and construction of the composite bridge, followed by a description of the proposed long-term monitoring of the structure being used to access the in-service performance of this novel bridge.