Minimizing construction-related traffic delays and improving work zone safety on future projects have been two reasons for the New Hampshire Department of Transportation’s (NHDOT) foray into rapid construction of bridges. The NHDOT has pursued project innovations that could significantly affect methods of design, detailing, and construction of bridges in the future. This bridge project replaced two existing spans with a 115 ft (35. 1 m) single-span precast, prestressed concrete box beam superstructure and precast concrete substructure.The contract required the bridge to be assembled and ready for traffic in two weeks. The contractor accomplished the task in only eight days. This article focuses on the substructure details and how the project schedule, design, specifications, and contractual arrangements for a conventional bridge-replacement project are affected by specifying rapid bridge construction. The general consensus is that all parties involved in this project are pleased with the outcome of this job.
