Lift System for Raising Continuous Concrete Bridges

Abstract

Due to road resurfacing a significant number of highway bridges throughout the nation violate underneath clearance requirements. A bridge lifting/monitoring system was developed as one solution to this problem. The system was designed to uniformly raise continuous 4‐span/4‐girder reinforced concrete deck/girder bridges. It is relatively lightweight, easy to set‐up and operate, reusable and designed to fit most bridge slopes, skew angles, girder spacings, and abutment/bent configurations. The major components of the lift system are: (1) A modular set of jack support and lift hardware; (2) a hydraulic system; and (3) a displacement monitoring system. The lift system performed very nicely when field tested on an experimental test bridge. The system was refined based on the results of the field testing. Detailed descriptions of the lift system components along with the systems capabilities, and lift procedure are presented.