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

  • UK Roads Crash Demo Day Is Big Hit
    May 18, 2012
    More than 100 representatives from local authorities, the police, and the highway safety-related business world attended UK Roads Crash Demonstration Day at MIRA near Nuneaton, in central England yesterday. The event included five crash demonstrations of road safety solutions developed by leading highway technology companies and an exhibition of safety products and services inside a marquee next to the demonstration site.
  • Bridge formwork solutions complete big bridge picture
    July 2, 2014
    Advanced bridge formwork solutions are allowing contractors to complete vital major highway infrastructure projects covering Norway, Sweden, Estonia and Poland. Guy Woodford reports Building the Labbdalen bridges in Norway is a key feature of the E6 highway improvement programme. Main project contractor HÆHRE tasked RMD Kwikform and Teknikk with supplying a complete formwork and shoring solution that could tackle the challenging Norwegian terrain, whilst preserving the environment. Situated two hours
  • ARTBA calls for more bridge repairs in US
    February 18, 2016
    The American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) is calling for more bridge repairs in the US. There are still too many structurally deficient bridges in the US according to a recent analysis. This report states that while there were 2,574 fewer structurally deficient bridges in 2015 compared to the number in 2014, there are still 58,500 on the structurally deficient list. Worse still, at the current pace of bridge investment it will take at least 21 years before these bridges are all replace
  • VIDEO: Gap closed for Gordie Howe Bridge
    July 26, 2024
    A 26m gap in the deck was recently closed on the bridge that will connect Detroit in the US state of Michigan and Windsor in the Canadian province of Ontario.