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Within a matter of hours, the road over Eufaula Dam became the site of the highest concentration of Ultra-High-Performance Concrete in Oklahoma, Aug. 19.
With panels over approximately 20 percent of the bridge deck placed, contractors began pouring the UHPC to bond the prefabricated panels.
“We’ve been waiting a long time for this. There’s a lot of people really interested in seeing this. This is a pretty big deal in the ‘Construction World’ especially here in Oklahoma. This is the first time we’ve done this amount of UHPC on any job,” said Levi Rundell a project engineer for the Tulsa District.
The UHPC has demonstrated the ability to withstand pressures well over 20,000 pounds per square inch compared to 4,000 to 7,000 pounds per square inch in typical construction concrete.
Contractors from Mobley Contracting Services are working on a major overhaul to provide a safer, more robust roadway over the dam.
“We like a difficult challenge; we always have and we always will, and this is one of them. Not everybody wants to bid or build a job like this but we really enjoy it and God’s blessed us and we are proud to be here,” said Ronny Mobley, chief executive officer, Mobley Contractors Inc.
The UHPC contains a proprietary mix of ingredients but one ingredient is millions of tiny steel strands as opposed to the typical aggregate included in concrete.
Because the catwalk beneath the bridge hung from the roadway it was removed and replaced with a wider walkway. The catwalk is used by maintenance staff to make gate changes and perform maintenance on equipment.
“Since the deck over the Eufaula Dam, we still have to have access to equipment that operates the gates and that influenced how we designed the bridge,” said Jeff Roberts, engineer of record, on the project, who is now with the Portland District. “This bridge has two primary girders which is fairly unusual. The girders are 24 feet apart and in a normal highway bridge the girders might be eight to ten feet apart.”
The bridge over Eufaula Dam allows State Highway 71 to cross the lake and connects McIntosh and Haskell counties.
The Tulsa District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers closed the bridge March 20, 2020 to execute the three-year, $20 million cooperative project with the state of Oklahoma and the Federal Highway Transportation Authority.
Eufaula Dam was completed in 1964 and opened during a ceremony featuring President Lyndon B. Johnson. The authorized missions of Lake Eufaula include flood control, navigation, water supply, sediment control, hydroelectric power, fish and wildlife, and recreation.
Engineers estimate the project will be completed in March 2023.
| Date Taken: | 08.19.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 08.25.2021 13:54 |
| Story ID: | 403891 |
| Location: | TULSA, OK, US |
| Web Views: | 68 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Eufaula bridge repair reaches milestone, makes history, by Brannen Parrish, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
Army Corps of Engineers
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