National Center for Wood Transportation Structures

About the research

While single span lateral slides have been adopted by many states and are a common accelerated bridge construction (ABC) method for the construction of bridges when short closure durations are needed, multi-span lateral slides are far less common. A multi-span lateral slide incorporates additional construction complexities that must be considered by the designer, agency, and contractor. This project will involve the second phase of study for the currently ongoing project, which included planning and beginning phases of laboratory efforts. This second phase will be conducted to investigate the performance of the ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) closure joint reinforced with non-contact, lap-spliced rebar, with a specific focus on determining when a non-contact lap splice has sufficient strength to either open a bridge or to expose it to additional construction loadings.