The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) will tear down the I-75 bridges over U.S. 6 and install new ones later in the year. The project aims to complete the work over the course of two weekends with minimal traffic disruption.
The new bridges will already have been built and crews will move them into position from temporary support structures. “Slide-in” bridge construction, also referred to as “lateral slide,” is a method increasingly used for replacing bridges with minimal traffic disruption.
Using traditional construction methods, contractors rebuild a bridge by closing one half of it at a time, often requiring lane closings that last for two construction seasons.
The I-75 bridges over U.S. 6 will be Ohio’s first built using the “slide-in” construction approach.
Jamal Elkaissi, a structural engineer at the Federal Highway Administration Resource Center in Lakewood, Colo., told the Toledo Blade that the higher direct cost of “slide-in” construction is typically more than offset by its time and safety advantages.
