Upgrading of a Reinforced Concrete Road Bridge

The upgrading of an existing older RC bridge located on a trunk road in a county town is described. The bridge was built at the end of the 1940s and was substandard due to its low capacity and lack of pedestrian sidewalks. The location of the bridge on a national highway required the introduction of a higher level of safety and load capacity for further service life. The bridge needed to be strengthened and widened. The existing span was used as a core element for an additional new, widened upper reinforced concrete overslab and strengthening reinforcement bars with shotcrete at the bottom of the span. The added top concrete overslab was made continuous with the abutments, and the bridge became integral. The bridge load bearing capacity was increased to the highest loading class in Poland. The paper describes the structural issues related to widening and strengthening the structure associated with the arrangement of the wider deck and introduction of the new sidewalks.