Additional Info.
The Brightman Street Bridge Replacement Project is a two leaf Bascule design on two main piers with a drawbridge that creates a 200 foot shipping channel.
The project’s final phase is a $186 million contract which includes construction of the approach spans superstructure, bascule span superstructure, concrete bridge piers, control house, bridge abutment and retaining walls, and electrical and mechanical equipment for the operation and control of the bascule spans.
High Steel is subcontracted to a joint venture between the Cianbro and Middlesex Companies to supply the structural steel for the project’s approach spans. The scope of the contract includes fabrication and delivery of 125 trapezoidal “tub” girders, which range in weight from 20,000 to 120,000 pounds each.
Several interesting features of the project's design called for highly complex detail drawings and fabrications procedures. The first is the fabrication of a massive bifurcated tub girder segment where the bridge’s off-ramp joins the main approach span of the superstructure on the west side of the bridge. These special tub girders had to be fabricated in pieces and assembled at elevation at High Steel’s yard, then disassembled and shipped to Massachusettsin in two pieces. Additionally, the east approach of the bridge includes an off-ramp with “merging” tubs. This merge area was also pre-assembled at High Steel’s yard prior to delivery to the job site.
The project is scheduled for completion in 2012.
Bridge Type: Tub Girder
Steel Tonnage: 5,038 Tons (approach spans)
Steel Type: Grade 50
Coating: Painted (Three Coats)
Project Owner: Massachusetts Highway Division
Contractor: Cianbro-Middlesex, A Joint Venture
Designer: HNTB Corporation, Boston
Detailer: Tensor Engineering Company
Steel Fabricator: High Steel Structures Inc. (approach spans)
Steel Erector: Cianbro-Middlesex, A Joint Venture