Intermountain Contractor’s Top Projects of 2009 in Utah and Idaho

51 US-191 Colorado River Bridge $38 M

Owner: UDOT
GC: Wadsworth Brothers Construction
Civil Engineer: H.W. Lochner
Structural Engineer: FIGG
Key Subs: Becho Inc.; DYWIDAG-Systems International; NRS Form Travelers; LeGrand Johnson Ready Mix

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US-191 provides the main access to Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Parks, Sand Flats Recreation Area, and Slick Rock bike trail, crossing the Colorado River just north of Moab. The concrete segmental bridges are being built with great respect for the environment – preserving, blending, and connecting the beautiful landscape. This project is the first of its kind in Utah, as the two bridges will be built utilizing cast-in-place cantilever post-tensioned segmental construction using form travelers. These two new twin bridges are over 1,000-ft long each. Each bridge has only two piers to provide sensitivity to and minimize impacts to the river and wetlands.
Construction entails several exciting and challenging aspects. Each phase of construction starts with constructing a 400-ft long temporary work trestle to gain access to the pier in the center of the Colorado River. The pier in the river is constructed by installing a 40-ft square sheet pile cell and designed to withstand high flows and allow pier construction below 35-ft of water and steam bed pressures. Several large 7-ft diameter caissons support the piers and are at a depth of 150 ft. Once the substructures are completed, the superstructures are built utilizing a unique cantilever segmental technique. The phasing of this project is to build the new south bound bridge while the existing bridge is still operational. After traffic is placed on the new south bound bridge, the existing bridge will be removed and the north bound bridge will then be built. Project started March 1, 2009 and will be completed by December 2010.

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