Missouri Society of Professional Engineers (MSPE)
June Luncheon
Thursday, June 18th , 2020
Sliding the Poplar Street Bridge
Abstract: The Poplar Street Bridge is a 50 year old five span (300’-500’-600’-500’-265’) 2165’ long structure which carries I-64 &I-55 over the Mississippi River in downtown St. Louis and connects Missouri and Illinois. The bridge has twin Eastbound and Westbound superstructures consisting of two variable depth steel box girders (25’ max. depth) with an orthotropic steel deck on a shared substructure.
The Missouri Department of Transportation hired HDR to provide the following improvements to the Poplar Street Bridge: 1) Increase lane capacity of the EB Bridge from 4 to 5 lanes in conjunction with improving interchange ramp structures on the Missouri side, 2) provide a new and improved riding surface and 3) Rehabilitate the structure.
A unique aspect of the project was the sliding of the existing bridge. In lieu of a traditional widening, the eastbound superstructure was successfully slid 9’ to the south onto widened piers on March 31, 2018 over the course of 2.5 hours and was widely reported as the 2nd longest bridge slide ever in the United States by length. The eastbound and westbound superstructures were then connected together using a concrete deck on a stringer-floor-beam type cross frame system which added redundancy and improved the performance of the structure.
Greg Kuntz is Bridge Section Manager in HDR’s St. Louis office. He is a graduate of the University of Missouri-Rolla and the University of Kansas. He has nearly 20 years of experience in the management, design and construction of highway bridge projects, primarily for the Missouri Department of Transportation. His projects include numerous major river crossings and complex rehabilitations
Time, Date, Location
12:00pm to 1:00pm, Thursday, June 18th, 2020 via Zoom Meeting. One (1) PDH is available.
Registration:
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https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88607318119
Call in Number: 1-312-626-6799
Meeting ID: 886 0731 8119
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