Short Span Steel Bridges 
Buried Steel Bridge Wins Award
Article provided by Contech Engineered Solutions and the National Corrugated Steel Pipe Association
The Crown Valley Community Park Entrance Improvement is part of of a 3 phase project that the City of Laguna Niguel, California, started back in 2015.
The overall project consists of a redevelopment effort for the park that includes repurposing & improvement of the green space, walking paths, and athletic fields, environmental enhancements, renovation of existing facilities, and construction of new facilities.
Big R/Contech Engineering supplied a twin Super Cor buried bridge that fit within the project’s budget.
Signature Steel Buried Bridge
The second phase of the project included a new entry bridge. The existing park entrance consisted of an Arizona crossing – several culverts in a low lying area that often flooded during precipitation events. As part of the entrance improvements, the City was looking for a signature entrance that enhanced the aesthetics of the newly developed green space to welcome visitors and improved the drainage of the area.
Big R / Contech partnered with SPECS Civil Solutions, Inc. of Encinitas, CA to provide a signature steel solution. The solution consisted of twin Buried Bridges that fit within the project’s budget & site constraints. In fact, the project was so successful it won the local ASCE Parks & Rec Project of the Year.
Project Details
The skewed ends of the structures are supported by cast-in-place concrete head walls that include detailed architectural features to tie the structures into the park and provide the look they needed.
Cast-in-place concrete head walls support the skewed ends of the corrugated steel structure.
Design of the head walls was a collaborative effort with the structural engineer, who had not designed head walls with a skewed structure of the size used for this project. The stiffness and shape of the deep corrugated Super Cor structure, along with support provided by the concrete head walls, made the skewed ends possible.
What are buried steel bridges?
Buried steel bridges provide an economical choices for bridge replacement or bridge rehabilitation.
They essentially are a corrugated steel pipe or structural plate pipe systems that is “buried” with backfill to carry loads through soil-structure interaction. This means the bridge structure itself and the backfill soils surrounding the structure interact with each other to support the loads. In effect, the backfill material is part of the bridge.
Because of this interaction, the bridge structure is typically lighter, and there can be significant savings in structure costs.
There are also many cases where buried bridges can carry heavier loads than traditional bridges because of the benefits of spreading vehicle loads through the fill. Buried bridges do not require abutments; and unless foundation soil conditions are poor, do not typically
require deep foundations.An additional benefit with buried bridges is that they can be tailored to site conditions and geometric requirements. The design includes inputs for site soils and backfill, meaning that locally available materials can often be used in construction and the structure can be tailored to fit the needs of the site and the owner’s requirements.
Buried Bridge
Buried Steel Bridge Preserves Streambed While Supporting Heavy Loads
A new galvanized buried steel bridge in Riverside, Iowa, supplied by SSSBA member Lane Enterprises, replaced a weight-restricted structure and restored direct access for local farmers. Its open-bottom steel design preserves the natural streambed, enhances durability, and provides a cost-effective solution for rural infrastructure.
Buried Bridge
Buried Steel Bridge Protects Wildlife and Motorists in New Mexico DOT Project
The New Mexico DOT buried steel bridge project, featuring SSSBA member Contech’s custom structural plate design, was honored as the NCSPA Project of the Year for its innovative wildlife crossing solution on I-25 at Raton Pass.
Case Study
Steel in Action: On-Demand Steel Bridge Video Series
Watch this four-part, on-demand video series featuring expert-led case studies on cost-effective, resilient short span bridge projects—now available with downloadable presentation materials.