A box girder bridge , or box section bridge , is a bridge in which the main beams comprise girders in the shape of a hollow box. The box girder normally comprises prestressed concrete , structural steel , or a composite of steel and reinforced concrete . The box is typically rectangular or trapezoidal in cross-section . Box girder bridges are commonly used for highway flyovers and for modern elevated structures of light rail transport. Although the box girder bridge is normally a form of beam bridge , box girders may also be used on cable-stayed and other bridges.
20-654: The Jeremiah Morrow Bridge is the name for a pair of concrete box girder bridges built between 2010 and 2016 which carry Interstate 71 over the Little Miami River gorge between Fort Ancient and Oregonia, Ohio . The bridges are named for former Governor of Ohio Jeremiah Morrow . The bridges are 239 feet (73 m) above the river, making them the highest bridges in Ohio, and are 2,252 ft (686 m) long, 55 ft (17 m) wide, with 440 ft (130 m) main spans. The bridges each have two marked lanes with room for
40-514: A fabrication yard, then transported and emplaced using cranes . For steel box girders, the girders are normally fabricated off site and lifted into place by crane, with sections connected by bolting or welding. If a composite concrete bridge deck is used, it is often cast in-place using temporary falsework supported by the steel girder. Either form of bridge may also be installed using the technique of incremental launching . Under this method, gantry cranes are often used to place new segments onto
60-436: A few years after opening and then further strengthened years later, although this was often due to increased traffic load as much as better design standards. The Irwell Valley bridge of 1970 was strengthened in 1970 and again in 2000. If made of concrete, box girder bridges may be cast in place using falsework supports, removed after completion, or in sections if a segmental bridge . Box girders may also be prefabricated in
80-616: A gradual improvement in water quality, and today wildlife is returning to the Irwell. Some industrial waste products, such as spoil from mining, or alkaloids from other industrial processes were disposed of locally. Caustic waste from the Leblanc process was dumped on at least two sites - Nob End , to the south of Bolton and Lower Hinds in Bury . The waste on both sites has since weathered-down to calcium carbonate and has provided an ideal environment for
100-404: A number of nationally rare calcicolous plants, unique in what is predominantly an area of acidic soil. These plants, along with non-indigenous garden escapees such as giant hogweed and Himalayan balsam , have added much variety to the flora of the valley. Nob End was designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1988 and a Local Nature Reserve in 2000. The M60 passes through
120-468: A site of national importance for interpreting the coal measure paleogeography of Great Britain. During the Industrial Revolution factories, mills and terraced hovels grew up along the river banks and the region became filled with cotton mills, coal mines, print works, bleach works, dye works, chemical works, paper works, in fact almost every kind of industry. Wet Earth Colliery was located in
140-528: A third lane. The original Warren truss bridges at the same location were opened to traffic in 1965 and were continuous across five spans. Both of the original spans were replaced beginning in 2010, with the completion of construction work marked with an official ribbon cutting ceremony held on November 18, 2016. The original bridges were approximately the same design and age as the I-35W Mississippi River bridge which collapsed in 2007. Demolition of
160-517: The Upper Carboniferous period when deposits of mud and sand were laid down. These later became beds of shales and sandstones alternating with layers of gritstone . There are also beds of New Red Sandstone and Manchester Marls . The glaciers of the Pleistocene epoch further shaped the landscape and then retreated, leaving behind deposits of sand, pebbles and boulder clay that formed
180-455: The fluvioglacial ridges of the Irwell Valley. Ashclough, a 5.8 hectare (14.3 acre) site which comprises the steep banks of the river between Prestolee and Little Lever, has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) because of its geological interest, primarily because it is the best site in the area displaying Ashcough Marine Band and its associated strata. Ashclough is
200-596: The Canal Lock Bridge, which had sufficient length to span a canal lock . Major Martel mated the bridge with the tank and used hydraulic power generated by the tank's engine to manoeuvre the bridge into place. For mine clearance the tanks were equipped with 2-ton rollers . Martel also developed his new bridging concept at the EBE, the Martel bridge, a modular box girder bridge suitable for military applications. The Martel bridge
220-738: The H-20. In addition, the modular construction of the basic Martel bridge would later during WWII become part of the basis of the Bailey bridge . In 1954, the Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors awarded Martel £500 for infringement on the design of his bridge by the designer of the Bailey bridge, Donald Bailey . Both the Large Box and Small Box designs would go on to see much service in World War II, especially in
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#1732852749304240-614: The UK to the formation of the Merrison Committee and considerable investment in new research into steel box girder behaviour. Most of the bridges still under construction at this time were delayed for investigation of the basic design principle. Some were abandoned and rebuilt as a different form of bridge altogether. Most of those that remained as box girder bridges, such as Erskine Bridge ( illus. ), were either redesigned, or had additional stiffening added later. Some bridges were strengthened
260-506: The case of the latter. The (non-modular) box girder bridge was a popular choice during the roadbuilding expansion of the 1960s, especially in the West, and many new bridge projects were in progress simultaneously. A serious blow to this use was a sequence of three serious disasters, when new bridges collapsed in 1970 ( West Gate Bridge and Cleddau Bridge ) and 1971 ( South Bridge (Koblenz) ). Fifty-one people were killed in these failures, leading in
280-567: The completed portions of the bridge until the bridge superstructure is completed. (Mainly non-modular designs) Irwell Valley The Irwell Valley in North West England extends from the Forest of Rossendale through the cities of Salford and Manchester . The River Irwell runs through the valley, along with the River Croal . Shallow seas covered most of south-east Lancashire in
300-507: The industries along the Irwell polluted the river so heavily that by the 1850 it was virtually devoid of wildlife, however, since the late 19th century many attempts have made to improve the quality of the water. In 1891 the Mersey and Irwell Joint Committee was formed. This body ordered local authorities to provide sewage treatment facilities, and industrial concerns were told to use the best practical means of preventing pollution. In 1939 this body
320-681: The original southbound bridge was largely completed on April 23, 2017. The original northbound bridge had been demolished in 2014 after one of the new bridges was complete. Box girder bridge In 1919, Major Gifford Martel was appointed head of the Experimental Bridging Establishment at Christchurch, Hampshire , which researched the possibilities of using tanks for battlefield engineering purposes such as bridge-laying and mine -clearing. Here he continued trials on modified Mark V tanks. The bridging component involved an assault bridge, designed by Major Charles Inglis RE,
340-454: The valley and the bridge at junction 16 ( A666 ) in Clifton is used as a summer roost for over 100 Daubenton's bats . The Irwell Sculpture Trail is one of the largest public art initiatives and the longest sculpture trail in the UK. The trail consists of a scenically varied, 30-mile (48 km) walking route based on the well-established Irwell Valley Trail stretching from Salford Quays to
360-582: The valley at Clifton , along with a number of bleach and dye works including Lever Bank Bleach Works . A number of canals were built to transport goods through the valley, the largest of which is the Manchester Ship Canal . Although many of the smaller canals were abandoned with the coming of the railways, isolated sections of the Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal still remain, and there are plans to restore it for leisure purposes. The waste from
380-709: Was adopted by the British Army in 1925 as the Large Box Girder Bridge. A scaled down version of this design, the Small Box Girder Bridge, was also formally adopted by the Army in 1932. This latter design was copied by many countries, including Germany, who called their version the Kastenträger-Gerät (K-Gerät for short). The United States was another country whose army created their own copy, designating it
400-680: Was superseded by the Lancashire Rivers Board, but wartime conditions brought about further deterioration of the river. In 1951 the Rivers (Prevention of Pollution) Act was passed and this board disappeared to be replaced by the Mersey River Board, which was replaced in turn by the Mersey and Weaver River Authority in 1965. In 1974 all the river authorities were merged into the Regional Water Authorities. Since then there has been
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