Skip to main content

BarrierGuard 800 keeps key U.S. bridge open

BarrierGuard 800 from Highway Care is said to be preventing the closure of a vital highway bridge in the United States. As a critical part of the US national infrastructure, the Sarah Mildred Long Bridge services the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. The link allows the transporting of spent nuclear fuel and heavy freight bound to and from the naval shipyard, with an average of 15,000 vehicles per day crossing this structurally deficient bridge. The railing along the Sarah Mildred Long Bridge had begun to deterio
April 11, 2013 Read time: 3 mins
BarrierGuard 800 from 1529 Highway Care is said to be preventing the closure of a vital highway bridge in the United States.

As a critical part of the US national infrastructure, the Sarah Mildred Long Bridge services the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. The link allows the transporting of spent nuclear fuel and heavy freight bound to and from the naval shipyard, with an average of 15,000 vehicles per day crossing this structurally deficient bridge.

The railing along the Sarah Mildred Long Bridge had begun to deteriorate, rusted through due to age and exposure. Recently the Memorial Bridge had been closed and the area could not survive without two bridges servicing the population. It left the Maine and New Hampshire Departments of Transportation in need of an immediate fix to keep this bridge from being closed.

After a careful study and much discussion, the decision was made to place the new innovative lightweight steel barrier across the Sarah Long Bridge to keep it open while a new bridge could be built. The Maine DOT and HNTB sent out a proposal which called for a steel barrier to be installed in less than 30 days after the project award. The bridge was already listed as structurally deficient so weight and speed of installation was an issue. Another concern was the concrete bridge deck being in such bad shape that the anchoring pattern would need to be shallow, as a through deck anchor was not viable.

The contract was awarded to CPM Constructors of Yarmouth, Maine who has completed over one hundred bridge and bridge rehabilitation projects. CPM Constructors is a recipient of the 2011 Build Maine Award and prestigious Build America Merit Award. To accomplish this task in a cost-effective and timely manner, CPM chose BarrierGuard 800 steel barrier manufactured by Highway Care in the U.S.

BarrierGuard 800 is said to weigh only 27.21kg per foot, appropriate for the reduced load limits of this structurally deficient bridge. Its narrow 53.34cm footprint is said to allow maximum travel lane usage for bridge traffic.  The option of internal anchoring to prevent snow plow snagging, along with a 12.7cm anchor embedment depth, were also said to be attractive features of the barrier.  Galvanized to ASTM 123 standards with a life cycle of approximately 20 years, the BarrierGuard 800 installation is expected to outlast the bridge.

An additional challenge for CPM Constructors has been limited 10pm-5am working hours to accommodate the traffic flow requirements of Naval base personnel. The ability to install up to 304.8m of BarrierGuard 800 per hour helped to deliver the 1,646m barrier installation complete, on budget and on time.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Pilosio and CMC Ravenna collaborate on Cornubia Interchange
    June 4, 2019
    The South African branch of the Italian construction company CMC di Ravenna again teamed up with formwork specialist Pilosio to take advantage of Pilosio's solutions. This time it was for construction of a new bridge in the city of Durban, a project named N2/Cornubia Interchange. The overpass will streamline traffic by linking the Umhlanga industrial zone with the Cornubia new development area Tongat. Cornubia is a multibillion rand integrated settlement near Umhlanga, north of Durban, in KwaZulu Natal,
  • Towers of power: California’s Gerald Desmond Bridge Replacement
    May 8, 2019
    Challenging ground conditions meant a design rethink - and some engineering firsts - for California’s Gerald Desmond Bridge Replacement Project* The Port of Long Beach on Terminal Island south of Los Angeles is the second-busiest container port in the US. It handles around 15% of all imported goods, much of it with Asia. As the Port of Long Beach was growing in importance over the past half century, the 51-year-old Gerald Desmond Bridge has faithfully been delivering thousands of daily commuters to wo
  • Award winning bridge for North Carolina
    November 21, 2019
    A new bridge in the US state of North Carolina has won a key award for excellence – Mike Woof writes
  • Work zone safety solution on busy world highways
    December 3, 2013
    Globally renowned highway work zone safety solution manufacturers have been providing some of their latest systems to protect roadworkers and motorists on high volume traffic highways. Guy Woodford reports Versilis has provided one of its state-of-the-art work zone safety solutions during the rehabilitation of North America’s busiest highway. The Canadian road safety product innovator and manufacturer was retained by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO) to install automated traffic control