West Virginia DOT Publishes Standard Bridge Plans for Short Span Bridges

The Short Span Steel Bridge Alliance (SSSBA) offers a complimentary service that allows for the production of standard rolled beam and plate girder designs for highway bridge applications. The designs conform to both AASHTO and owner-specified criteria.

The designs are individually compared against external software programs to ensure their compliance with owner preferences and pertinent limit states.

The SSSBA offers this service free of charge to State Departments of Transportation.

West Virginia Standard Bridge Plans

Karl Barth (Co-Director, SSSBA Bridge Technology Center and Professor at West Virginia University) and Gregory Michaelson (Co-Director, SSSBA Bridge Technology Center and Associate Professor at Marshall University) recently worked with the West Virginia Department of Transportation to developed standard bridges plans for:

• Composite Rolled Beam Girders (6-11foot spacings, 0 degree skew & 30 degree skew)
• Composite Plate Girders (6-11-foot spacings, 0 degree skew & 30 degree skew)

The plans include:

• Cross-section
• Span configuration
• Loadings
• State-specific practices for West Virginia and various details

“The standard plans, developed by the Short Span Steel Bridge Alliance, will greatly enhance our ability to specify steel bridges for future short span projects,” said Joseph Neeley, district one design section head at the West Virginia Department of Transportation. “With over 7,000 bridges to maintain in West Virginia, we anticipate that these plans will help to create a more cost effective and efficient infrastructure system within our state.”

View the standard bridge plans on the West Virginia Department of Transportation website (see ​​3300 Series – Steel Superstructure)

Savings Through Standardization

The potential savings in material cost realized by designing each structure individually for every site situation are far outweighed by standardizing the design of these structures. That is, utilization of a) similar beam sizing across the board for similar span arrangements, b) common details and b) c) common fabrication practices far outweighs any negligible material savings associated with design on a site-by-site basis.

This has broad implications for improved quality and efficiency in our infrastructure sinceit allows:

• Owners to have a real-time understanding of cost.
• The bridge inspection community to be better equipped to perform inspections on industry-vetted and known details.
• Fabricators to have readily available approved design and detailing files to expedite project delivery.
• Contractors to be enabled  to successfully perform jobs with a minimum of problems related to design flaws or complicated piece installation.
• Transportation system users to experience a more cost-effective and efficient infrastructure system.

See a separate set of sample design standards the SSSBA developed for Ohio DOT.

Get Started with Developing Complimentary Standard Bridge Designs

Learn more about this complimentary service offered to state DOTs by downloading the document, Automated Production of Robust Owner-Specific Steel Bridge Design Details.

For questions, or to set up a meeting to discuss how you can get started developing complimentary standard bridge designs within your state, contact:

Karl E. Barth, Ph.D.
Co-Director, SSSBA Bridge Technology Center
Jack H. Samples Distinguished Professor at West Virginia University
Email: Karl.Barth@mail.wvu.edu

Gregory K. Michaelson, Ph.D., P.E.
Co-Director, SSSBA Bridge Technology Center
Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering at Marshall University
Email: michaelson@marshall.edu

Dan Snyder
Director, SSSBA
Vice President, Construction, American Iron and Steel Institute
Email: dsnyder@steel.org