Jane Addams Tollway I-90 Bridges over the Kishwaukee River - new standards for Integral Abutment Bridges

摘要

Integral Abutment Bridges (IAB) are widely adopted in the United States. The Federal HighwayrnAdministration (FHWA) and State Departments of Transportation are developing new designrncriteria based on temperature range, total length, material types, soil and foundation types and skew.rnThe goal is to gain a more detailed knowledge of the behaviour of this type of bridges to support thernincreasing use of them.rnThis case study relates to two bridges for the Illinois Tollway that were designed while the IllinoisrnDepartment of Transportation was in the process of developing new design guidelines for IAB. Onernof the project goals was to create a prototype to test the new standards and details. The design wasrndeveloped in coordination with a research group that received a grant to instrument the bridge andrncollect data to study the behaviour of substructures and superstructures of long integral abutmentrnbridges. The paper discusses the state-of-the-art of IABs in the United Sates and provides insightrnon what are the major issues that designers have to focus for future applications.