Joint Meeting with ASCE SJ - Delaware River Turnpike Bridge Emergency Repairs

The Delaware River Turnpike Bridge (DRTB) is a 1¼ mile long river crossing jointly owned, operated, and maintained by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority (NJTA) and the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC). On January 20, 2017, the complete fracture of a top chord was discovered on the Pennsylvania side of the bridge. A stress redistribution occurred because of this fracture, substantially altering the forces carried by the adjacent top chord members, concrete deck, stringers, and sway bracing. The structure was immediately closed to traffic and a repair process was developed to restore the structure to its original condition. Structural monitoring was used throughout the repair process to evaluate the restoration of the loads in the structure and ultimately its ability to safely carry traffic loads. Additionally, a load test was performed on the similar sister truss on the New Jersey approach to calibrate the finite element models being used to evaluate the jacking and post-tensioning forces and design the repairs to the compromised truss on the Pennsylvania side. Finally, a load test was performed on the damaged Pennsylvania truss following the completion of the emergency repairs to provide a confirmation of behavior. This confirmation of behavior was ultimately used to help the owners make the decision to re-open the bridge to traffic. The structure was re-opened to traffic in less than seven weeks. The instrumentation remains on the bridge as of January 2018 to monitor the structure’s performance and confirm that the structure is acting as anticipated and safely carrying the daily traffic loads.

Several firms, including WSP, were engaged in a comprehensive assessment and structural analysis to determine a permanent repair plan. WSP’s specific responsibilities were:

Presenters

Anand Paluri, PE, PTOE is a Senior Project Manager and Vice President of WSP’s New Jersey Operations. Mr. Paluri received his BE degree from Andhra University and MS degree from Clarkson University.  He has 32 years of experience working in traffic engineering, transportation planning, concept development, environmental studies, and highway design projects related to bridges, corridors, local streets, pedestrian and bicycle facilities, parking, transit, toll plazas, ports, and airports.  Mr. Paluri led the Transportation Management Plan efforts, including overall coordination with various agencies to monitor and improve traffic flows and the development of detour plans for the emergency response for the DRTB closure.

Andrew Foden, PhD, PE is a Senior Supervising Engineer in WSP’s Lawrenceville, NJ, office.  Dr. Foden received his BS and PhD from Rutgers University.  His 23-year career has primarily focused on bridge technology and advanced bridge assessment and management systems.   He has also been involved with structural analysis and modeling of highway, railway, and pedestrian bridges and other structures.  Andy has worked on all aspects of bridge design, including widening and seismic retrofits. Dr. Foden has been a leader in the development of high strength composite materials for civil engineering applications.  He is the author of numerous papers on bridge assessment and management, bridge design, material characterization, and fatigue analysis. Dr. Foden led the structural monitoring and load testing tasks for the emergency response for the DRTB closure

Cost

$25 for Government Employees
$45 for ASHE Members
$55 for Non-Members and Walk-ins
$250 Dinner Sponsorship (Includes One Free Dinner Registration)

* Students may attend for free by contacting Richard Grubb, ASHE SNJ Membership Committee Lead, at rgrubb@rgaincorporated.com.

ASHE SNJ would like to thank our sponsors!

For information on becoming a sponsor, please contact Mike Frabizzio at mfrabizzio@aidpe.com.