The Arkansas Department of Transportation selected Garver to develop plans for the replacement of the I-30 crossing over the Red River near Fulton, Arkansas, which included roadway, bridge, and hydraulic design services, as well as coordination of the Section 408 Permit for the construction in the vicinity of the Fulton Levee System.
The 1,300-foot replacement bridge consists of two continuous plate girder units. A four-span continuous unit serves as the approach unit on the west end and a continuous unit spans the river. The substructure consists of multi-column intermediate bents founded on steel pile footings on the western approach spans, and three-column intermediate bents supported by drilled shafts within the river channel. Drilled shafts were selected for the river foundations to protect against the potential scour that had endangered the existing structure.
Though this segment of the Red River is not currently navigable, Garver’s scope of work included coordination with the Coast Guard to develop the span configuration that would accommodate future navigation. The span arrangement was set to provide a minimum navigation channel of 200’. Garver also developed a vessel collision study to determine the appropriate loading to be used for the pier designs. To develop an efficient design, Garver utilized a 3-D global model of the 860’ unit to determine the force distribution for the vessel collision loading.
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