Railway Interchange 2017 Buzz

Sessions Speakers Floor Plan Buzz

P&T Technical Presentation: Accelerated Design-Build Replacement of SEPTA’s Crum Creek Viaduct (Room Sagamore Ballroom)

18 Sep 17
12:15 PM - 12:45 PM

Tracks: AREMA Full Program, AREMA Full Schedule, AREMA Technical Sessions- P&T

Built in 1895, the steel Crum Creek Viaduct rises more than 100 feet above Crum Creek and spans a length of more than 925 feet. After years of interim repairs, the Crum Creek Viaduct had reached the end of its useful life and required replacement. Faced with the need to replace the structure while minimizing impact to its steadily increasing ridership and service requirements, SEPTA employed innovative contracting and construction processes to replace the structure during an eleven week outage in the summer of 2016. The Crum Creek Viaduct Replacement Project is a unique accelerated bridge construction (ABC) design/build project that replaced the bridge on the existing rail alignment. Innovative solutions were employed to design and install the new bridge during a limited track outage window. The new 735’ long steel girder bridge has five spans with a maximum span length of 157’. Real time bridge and slope monitoring systems were utilized to monitor the existing bridge and the steep slopes during construction. The new superstructure including the precast deck was assembled on straddle bents built under and to the side of the existing in-service bridge. A lateral slide ABC technique was used to move the new bridge into place. Results include budget savings, reduced customer inconvenience, and increased productivity by employing and coordinating the design-build construction team coupled with in-house work groups. This paper will present an overview and insights into SEPTA’s planning, construction, and coordination efforts that resulted in the successful completion of this complex ABC project.