Technical Article

www.ijoss.org
Steel Structures 8 (2008) 67-71

Steel Bridge System with Simple Girder for Dead Load and
Continuous Girder for Live Load: Economic Advantages
Atorod Azizinamini¹ and Dae-Yong Lee² * ,

¹Professor, Civil Engineering Department, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA

²Senior Research Engineer, RIST Steel Structure Research Center, Republic of Korea

Abstract
The National Bridge Research Organization (NaBRO) has developed a competitive steel bridge system known as “steel
bridge system with simple girder for dead load and continuous girder for live load” In the proposed system, the girders are
designed as simply supported to resist construction loads and as continuous after hardening of the concrete. We investigated
in this paper the cost-benefit of the new steel bridge system as compared with that of the conventional system. In this study,
two girder bridges (one for I-girder bridge and one for box girder bridge) that have been already constructed in the U.S. are
selected and then the bridges are designed using two methods: the conventional method and the newly proposed concept.
Changes in steel girder weights, costs, and construction schedules are mainly discussed.
Keywords: Steel Bridge, Simple for Dead and Continuous for Live, I-Girder Bridge, Box Girder Bridge, Cost

1. Introduction

An 11-year overview of the National Bridge Inventory

(FHWA, 2003) data obtained from the Federal Highway
Administration (FHWA) for fifty states is shown in Fig.
1. The data are categorized according to the material of
bridge construction. The results in Fig. 1 clearly show
that the construction of steel and timber bridges in this
period is declining, whereas concrete and prestressed
concrete bridge construction is increasing. To identify
trends in the use of bridge materials in the mid-west
region of the U.S., a detailed market analysis was carried
out by Lampe (2001). Based on the trends identified
through the market analysis for the time period from 1911 Figure 1. Number of bridges in the U.S.
to 1998, it has been concluded that steel bridge
construction in all span lengths has either remained
steady or decreased in number in the last two decades, of simple construction methods. For this reason, the
whereas that of prestressed concrete has extended its National Bridge Research Organization (NaBRO), in its
presence as the construction material of choice across all effort to find an innovative construction method, finally
span lengths. The major factors for the diminishing developed a competitive method known as “steel bridge
competitiveness of steel bridges in the bridge market can system with simple girder for dead load and continuous
be attributed to steel material price, labor, and the girder for live load” In the new proposed method, the
excessive use of complicated details and equipment. girders of each span are designed as simply supported to
Traditionally, the material cost had been more important resist construction loads, such as weight of the concrete
in the estimation of the total cost of a bridge project, but slab and girders. However, the girders are connected
now the least labor generally results in the least cost. through a concrete diaphragm on the pier location to be
Labor cost can be substantially reduced through the use continuous after the hardening of concrete for the applied
live loads such as traffic weight. In this case, the
*Corresponding author connection over the pier is simple during the slab
Tel: +82-31-370-9582; Fax: +82-31-370-9599 concrete pouring and continuous during the bridge’s
E-mail: dylee@rist.re.kr service life. This requires designing a pseudo-continuous
68 Atorod Azizinamini and Dae-Yong Lee
connection over the pier that connects two adjacent
girders.
In this article, the cost-benefit of the “steel bridge
system with simple girder for dead load and continuous
girder for live load” is discussed in comparison with the
cost of the conventional steel bridge construction method.
For the comparison, two girder bridges (one for the I-
girder bridge and one for the box girder bridge) are
selected and then the bridges are designed using two
methods: first as a continuous beam for dead, live, and
superimposed loads (conventional method) and second as
two simple beams for dead load and continuous for live
load according to the new proposed concept.
2. Conventional System versus New System
Due to handling limitations, steel girders are usually
fabricated in the shop in several pieces, and then
transported to the site for assembly. The multi-span steel
bridges are connected together at the site to make the
continuous beams. The construction sequence consists of
placing the middle segment and connecting the two end
sections using a bolted or welded field splice. The location
of field splices due to structural design considerations is
preferred to be somewhere between the piers rather than
on the piers. This type of construction usually requires
extra cranes or temporary shoring (see Fig. 2) for erection
with a possible interrupting traffic. The connection of two
steel girders while hanging in the air can also be
hazardous for the steelworkers. Furthermore, the detailing
and fabrication of splice holes require extra inspection
costs. In a series of discussions with designers, fabricators,
and contractors, two factors were identified to be
essential in improving the conventional system:
• Elimination of field splices
• Simplification of the type of details at the pier location
In the newly developed concept, designers specify steel
girders in simple span configuration as shown in Fig.
3(a); girders sit simply on the abutments and piers. In the
Figure 2. Conventional erection method of steel girders.
New method of steel bridge design and construction.
Figure 3.
field, the contractor fixes them with a partial concrete
diaphragm at the pier. This technique greatly simplifies
the formation of continuous girders, which would otherwise
be bolted or welded together in the field. After placing
each girder on the bearing pads, the concrete slab and the
remaining portion of the diaphragm are poured. The
concrete deck, diaphragm, and longitudinal reinforcing
provide the continuity of two adjacent steel girders for the
traffic loads and superimposed dead loads as shown in
Fig. 3(b). The advantages of this new system were
investigated in a parametric study (Lampe, 2001) and are
as follows:
• The need for expensive field splices are completely
eliminated for spans of up to 150 ft (as controlled by
transportation considerations).
• The contractor will need fewer cranes for installation.
The need for less installation equipment allows
smaller contractors to bid for jobs.
• A uniform cross-section can be utilized for the entire
span that reduces the fabrication effort.
• Girders can be placed over the support without
significant interruption to the ongoing traffic.
• Improves safety of steel workers.
• The placement of girders directly on the pier and
abutment reduces the erection time.
• Requires minimal detailing of the steel beams.
• Does not need temporary shoring.
Girders designed using the proposed concept can increase
the weight of steel material required because of the
simple span action of each girder under the construction
loads. However, the implementation of simpler details
enhances the overall economy of the bridge and this will
be shown later in this article.
 Steel Bridge System with Simple Girder for Dead Load and Continuous Girder for Live Load: Economic Advantages
Figure 4. Erection of the first span of sprague street bridge
over the I-680.
3. Case Studies
In order to validate the economic advantage of the
proposed concept, a parametric study was carried out. For
the study, two recently constructed steel bridges (Sprague
Street Bridge and N-2 Bridge) based on the new concept
were selected. Sprague Street Bridge consists of the I-
girder cross-section, whereas the N-2 Bridge has the box
section. These two bridges were designed based on the
conventional method and the proposed concept. AASHTO-
LRFD Bridge Design Specification (1998) provisions
were used for the steel bridge designs.
The Sprague Street Bridge over the I-680 is located in
Omaha, Nebraska and was opened to traffic in August
2004. The erection of the first span of Sprague Street
Bridge over the I-680 is shown in Fig. 4. The bridge has
two spans, each 97 ft long with four I-girder cross-
sections. The clear roadway width is 32 ft, with a 7-ft
pedestrian sidewalk on the south side of the bridge. Cast-
in-place deck thickness is 7.5 in. with 0.5 in. integral
wearing surface. For the fabrication of the rolled I-girder,
50 ksi weathering steel was used. In this study, the
Sprague Street project was selected for two reasons. First,
the 97-ft spans represent a common two-span bridge
constructed in the U.S. in the short span range. Second,
the project has been recently designed and erected and
thus provides current cost estimates for economic
comparisons.
Table 1. Comparison of the designed girders
I-Girder
Conventional Method
Top Flange Sizes (in) (15.8 × 0.5) & (15.8 × 2.6) (15.8 × 0.5) & (15.8 × 2.6) (16 × 0.64) & (16 × 1.3) (16 × 0.7) & (16 × 0.8)
Web Sizes (in) (36.56 × 0.75)
Bottom Flange Sizes (in) (15.8 × 0.5) & (15.8 × 2.6) (15.8 × 0.5) & (15.8 × 2.6) (72 × 0.64) & (72 × 1.3) (72 × 0.7) & (72 × 0.8)
Demand/Strength Ratio 1.00
Weight of 1 Girder (kips) 21.46
Weight Increase Percentage 2.82%
69
Figure 5. Erection of the N-2 box girder bridge over the
I-80.
The N-2 Bridge has been recently constructed at
Nebraska Highway 2 over the I-80 (see Fig. 5). The
bridge structure consists of two 139-ft spans, and a three-
box girder cross-section. The spacing between centerlines
of the boxes is 16 feet-1 in. and supports a 46 feet-4 in.
clear roadway and a pedestrian sidewalk. The cast-in-
place deck thickness is 7.5 in. with 0.5 in. integral
wearing surface. The exterior girder overhang is 4 feet-1
in. from the center of the exterior girder to the deck’s
edge. The box girders are fabricated with 100 ksi
weathering steel. The bridge was built using the proposed
construction method. This bridge was selected to examine
the new concept on the different cross-sections and its
practicality in the medium span length range.
The above two bridges were designed using two methods:
the conventional method and the newly proposed concept.
A summary of the design results is provided in Table 1.
The variation of flange thickness is limited to two thicknesses
along the girder length to include practical fabrication
considerations. However, the obtained thickness is not
market-standard size. The web depth and thickness
remain constant in both methods to satisfy deflection
requirements. In weight calculations, the weights of
stiffeners and cross frames are ignored as they are similar
in both alternatives. The flange thickness is changed to
obtain a demand-to-strength ratio of the section close to
1.00. The results in Table 1 shows that for each case the
weight of the additional steel by using the new concept is
Box Girder
New Method Conventional Method New Method
(36.56 × 0.75) (50 × 0.375) (50 × 0.375)
1.00 1.00 1.00
22.07 52.47 54.63
4.13%
70 Atorod Azizinamini and Dae-Yong Lee
Table 2. Steel girder cost
I-Girder
Conventional
Weathering steel unit price per lb $0.75
Price of each steel girder $15,627
Difference between the two methods
about 3 percent for the I-girder and 4 percent for the box
girder.
4. Cost-Benefit Analysis
The average bid unit price of fabrication and erection
of each steel girder is listed in Table 2. The unit price is
derived from the assumption that the girders have been
fabricated following the conventional method. As the
weight of the girders designed based on the new technique
is greater than the conventional method, the total price of
each steel girder is also greater. The increase in the cost
of materials by utilizing the new concept is $923 for the
I-girder and $2381 for the box girder, as given in Table 2.
The cost of fabrication and installation of each field
splice needs to be estimated in order to determine the
extra cost of each girder when designed using the
conventional method as opposed to the new concept. The
cost of fabrication and erection of one field splice for
each girder consists of the cost of bolts, holes, plates, an
extra crane, steel workers for installation, and inspection.
The unit price and required time for each item is obtained
from the RS Means Open Shop Building Construction
Cost Data (2003). A 55 percent surplus is added to the
total cost of material, equipment, and labor to consider
the overhead, profit, and indirect costs of the contractor.
The typical field splice designed for the I-girder bridge is
shown in Fig. 6. The fabrication and erection of each
Figure 6. I-girder field splice details.
comparison
Box Girder
New Conventional New
$0.75 $1.1 $1.1
$16,551 $57,712 $60,093
$923 $2,381
splice costs about $2,000 for each I-girder. It is shown
that the additional field splice adds approximately 13
percent to the total cost of each steel I-girder, whereas
employing the new technique increases the steel material
cost only by 6 percent. Therefore, there is a 7 percent
savings with the use of the new method of construction.
Another splice detail is designed for the box girder and
the cost is estimated by the same method as described for
the I-girder. The cost of each field splice is about $6400,
which represents 11 percent of the total cost of a box
girder. The increase in cost due to the extra weight is
about 4 percent. Therefore, by using the new method, the
contractor can save up to 7 percent for each box girder.
In this study, the extra time required for the fabrication
and erection of each splice is also evaluated in consideration
of a crew consisting of two steel workers for fabrication
and installation, one crane operator, and one inspector.
The total estimated time for the field splice of the I-girder
is about 10 hours. This will extend the project time for
more than one day. The time estimation for the box girder
case indicates that employing field splices can extend the
project time for more than 4 days.
5. New Concept in Practice
The Sprague Street over the I-680 and the N-2 over the
I-80 Bridges were constructed using the new construction
technique in Nebraska in 2003 and 2004, respectively.
The I-girder bridge was made of a rolled shape section
with a uniform section across the length and thus did not
need any change in the cross-section. The only additional
detail was the end bearing plates welded to both ends of
the girder in the shop. The cross-section of the box girder
was also uniform across the span length; therefore, plate
waste was minimized. The additional end bearing plates
were welded to the ends to improve the stability of the
box girder and continuity of the bridge system after
pouring the concrete.
The girders of the first span of Sprague Street Bridge
were set independently without erecting the second span
girder. Therefore, the traffic under the second span did
not need to be interrupted. The independence of the
girders setting in two spans is not possible with the current
method of practice, as the girders must be continuous
over the pier. The girders of the first span were erected at
night in order to minimize disruption to traffic, as the I-
680 below had to be closed during that time. The cost for
in-place erected steel for the Sprague Street Bridge was
 Steel Bridge System with Simple Girder for Dead Load and Continuous Girder for Live Load: Economic Advantages
approximately $0.52/lb. This compares to the rule-of-
thumb value of engineering estimates of $0.75/lb for
erected rolled steel bridges with conventional bolted field
splices (Azizinamini and Vander Veen, 2004). Project
duration was about 6 calendar months. The elimination of
field splices could have shortened the project schedule by
about 1 day, which represents approximately 1 percent of
the total project duration.
The erection of the 139 ft box girder was carried out by
two crawler cranes without any temporary shoring. The
placement of each girder from the semi-trailer on the
abutment and pier took about 20 minutes. As it was
pointed out earlier, the installation of a box girder with
the traditional construction method could exceed 4 days
considering the time needed for setting the temporary
shoring and fastening of the field splices. The construction
period for this bridge was also about 6 calendar months.
The time savings estimated by eliminating the field splice
based on the time calculation presented in the previous
section is about 3 days, which represents approximately 3
percent of the total project time.
6. Summary and Conclusion
In order to investigate the cost-benefit of the “steel
bridge system with simple girder for dead load and
continuous girder for live load” proposed by the National
Bridge Research Organization (NaBRO), two girder
bridges (one for the I-girder bridge and one for the box
girder bridge) are selected and design of the bridges are
carried out using two methods: the conventional method
and the newly proposed concept. Major findings from the
71
comparison are summarized in the following:
• The application of the new construction method may
result in a slight increase in the weight of the steel
girder. The comparison in Table 1 shows about a 3
percent additional weight of steel for the I-girder and
4 percent for the box girder.
• However, the Sprague Street Bridge and N-2 Bridge
projects show that the application of the new method
can make cost savings of up to 7 percent by
eliminating field splices in spite of the material cost
increase of up to 6 percent.
• Also found from the cost-benefit analysis is that the
elimination of field splices can shorten the project
schedule by up to 3 percent of the total project
duration.
References
AASHTO (1998). “AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design
Specifications,” Second Edition (w/2001 interims),
American Association of State Highway Transportation
Officials, Washington D.C.
Azizinamini, A. and Vender Veen, L. (2004). “Simple-Made-
Continuous,” Steel Bridge News, 5(4), pp. 6-7.
Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) (2003). “National
Bridge Inventory.” URL http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/bridge/
nbi.htm (Accessed to This Website on December 22,
2007)
Lampe, N. (2001). “Steel Girder Bridges Enhancing the
Economy,” Master Thesis, University of Nebraska,
Lincoln, Nebraska.
RS Means (2003). “Open Shop Building Construction Cost
Data,” RS Means Company.