IR-90 OVER WESTERN RESERVE
GREENWAY TRAIL
The 43-mile Western Reserve Greenway Trail in Northeast Ohio stretches from Ashtabula to Warren. At IR-90, a severely skewed multiple-span steel plate girder railroad bridge was converted to an ECO-SPAN® Precast Concrete Arch-Box shape to carry the new path under the interstate highway.In order to minimize traffic disruption, foundations were constructed and arch sections installed under the existing bridge while traffic was maintained above. The arch sections were set on the cast-in-place foundation by crane, then moved into their final position by an off-road forklift with a specially designed lifting frame. After the arch was backfilled up to near the existing beam elevation, the superstructure could be quickly demolished and replaced by embankment and conventional roadway pavement.
The precast concrete headwalls and wingwalls were cast with a formliner finish. Stub-outs for lighting were provided in the precast arch sections.
The new arch structure improves safety by eliminating the potential for bridge deck icing in this area which sees significant lake-effect snow. Future maintenance expenses for ODOT should also be significantly reduced with elimination of two large bridge decks.