Wilson Creek Bridge

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Wilson Creek Bridge
Wilson Creek Bridge, looking northeast
Carries	Virginia Smart Road
Crosses	Wilson Creek, a tributary of the North Fork of the Roanoke River; County Route 723 (Ellett Road), part of U.S. Bicycle Route 76 and the TransAmerica Bicycle Trail
Locale	Montgomery County, Virginia
Maintained by	Virginia Tech Transportation Institute [1]
Design	Cast-in-place cantilever box girder
Longest span	472 feet (144 m)
Total length	1,985 feet (605 m)
Width	40 feet (12 m), 2 lanes
Clearance below	175 feet (53 m)
Opening date	May 30, 2001
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The Wilson Creek Bridge (also known as the Smart Road Bridge) is the tallest bridge in Virginia at 175 feet (53 m) tall, the second tallest being the Varina-Enon Bridge over the James River in Henrico County at 157 feet (48 m) tall.

The Wilson Creek Bridge is located in Montgomery County and was built as part of the Virginia Smart Road project. It is a cast-in-place cantilever box girder bridge and extends for 1,985 feet (605 m) with three spans of 472 feet (144 m) and two spans of 283 feet (86 m).

1 Construction
2 Awards
3 Unique Features
4 Pictures
5 References

[edit] Construction

Construction began in August, 1998. The bridge was designed by Florida-based Figg Engineering Group and built by PCL Civil Constructors Inc., a subsidiary of PCL Constructors Inc. at a cost of US$17.4 million. The bridge design is the same genre as the Natchez Trace Parkway Bridge. The bridge is composed of four double-tapered piers with stone inlay, two conventional abutments, and 100 cast-in-place segments. After review of the bridge design by the construction firm, the segments were changed from 4.5 m to 5 m segments, deleting 35 segments from the critical path of construction. The bridge was completed on May 30, 2001.

[edit] Awards

In 2002, the bridge received an honorable mention in the Federal Highway Administration's Excellence in Highway Design Awards, Category 3A: Major Highway Structures Over $10 Million. The bridge also received an award that year from the Concrete Reinforced Steel Institute, the only 2002 award-winner east of the Mississippi River.

[edit] Unique Features

The cast-in-place cantilever box girder bridge design is the only one of its kind in Virginia.

The bridge is hollow. Beneath the riding surface, the box girders are open with a width of 18 feet (5 m) and a height which varies from 12-35 feet (4-11 m).

Power and communication lines run the length of the bridge so that researchers can install testing equipment.

The support structure of the bridge is inlaid with Hokie Stone to blend in with the environment and meld with the architectural stylings of Virginia Tech.