Twin cable-stayed Houston Ship Channel Bridge

The Houston Ship Channel crossing is the first cable-stayed bridge with two superstructures. Its total deck area of about 32.800 sq m makes it one of the largest cable-stayed bridges to date. The cable-stayed bridge has a mainspan of 381m and a navigational clearance of 53m. Each of the two beams is 24m wide and comprises a steel grid from exterior main girders and cross-girders, all built from plate girders, with a precast concrete roadway slab on top. The twin concrete towers, with a double-diamond shape, rise 130m above ground. In the transverse direction they carry the loads by truss action. The towers were built in 6m-high sections, with jumping forms. The beams were constructed by free cantilevering from the towers outwards. The steel grids for each pair of cables were lifted up and connected by high-strength bolts. The precast slabs were then positioned and the cast-in-place joints closed before proceeding to the next section. (A)