Design and Construction of Cable-Stayed Bridges in the Czech Republic

The author discusses the design, analysis and construction of two innovative precast, prestressed concrete cable-stayed bridges recently built in the Czech Republic. The first bridge was built across the Elbe River near Podebrady and the second bridge was built over a major railroad junction in Prague-Vrsovice. The decks of these bridges comprise a spine box girder assembled of precast, match-cast segments and cast-in-place overhangs supported by precast concrete struts. External prestressing was used to strengthen the deck. To confirm the validity of the design, a static and dynamic analysis of the structural system was conducted together with model testing. The author shows how this system, with some modification, can be applied to other cable-stayed and segmented concrete bridges.