In early May, Sundt moved the first of two 300-ton concrete arches that will become part of the reconstructed West 7th Street Bridge in Fort Worth, Texas. The remaining 10 arches will be transferred from an off-site casting yard and set into place, one at a time, through mid-June. The $25.9 million construction project involves the replacement of the approximately 100-year-old West 7th Street Bridge with a new signature structure – the world’s first precast network arch bridge.
A short time-lapse video shows the precast bridge elements being hauled to the project with self-propelled mobile transports and set in place with twin Liebherr 1400 cranes with superlift. Each arch measures 163 ft long and weighs approximately 640,000 lb. When complete, the bridge will feature four travel lanes with a center-raised median to separate traffic. Pedestrians and cyclists will have safer and improved mobility on the reconstructed bridge, which includes separated 10.5-ft pedestrian/bicycle travel ways on the outside of the bridge arches.
The bridge, which connects the city’s downtown to its cultural district and the newly renovated Montgomery Plaza area, features an innovative design consisting of 12 lighted, precast, post-tensioned concrete arches that rise more than 20 ft above the roadway at their highest point. Sundt began self-performing construction of the precast elements in January 2012. The project is scheduled to be open to traffic on Oct. 1.
