Hulton Bridge Replacement
Oakmont, Pa.
Award of Merit
Owner PennDOT, Engineering District 11
Lead Design Firm Gannett Fleming
General Contractor Brayman Construction
Civil Engineer Gannett Fleming
Structural Engineer Gannett Fleming
Design Subconsultant Tri-State Design & Development
Design Subconsultant/Structures McCormick Taylor Engineers & Planners
As the Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pa., looked ahead to hosting the 2016 U.S. Open, congestion on the century-old Hulton Bridge near Pittsburgh was so bad that the daily traffic count reached nearly 26,000 vehicles.
In order to be ready for the golf tournament, the replacement bridge’s design had to be completed in 2013 so Brayman Construction would have 30 months to build it. The team worked year-round, including during winter temperatures that dipped as low as 20 degrees Fahrenheit. The project team also had to erect the bridge’s main span in less than 72 hours due to U.S. Coast Guard restrictions that limit the amount of time the channel could be closed. The Coast Guard also prohibited temporary towers in the navigational channel.
The channel was only closed for 48 hours as the team used a strand jacking lift that allowed all five girders to be simultaneously erected. The procedure—which included a hydraulic device that utilizes multiple steel cables, or strands, to lift large loads—marked the first time that the strand jacking method was used for a steel girder bridge in Pennsylvania.
The new four-lane, 1,633-ft-long structure has not only retained the original bridge’s iconic style, but it opened in October 2015—nine months before the U.S. Open.
