THE CHALLENGE: The Town of Woodbury, Connecticut wished to complete the southern leg of their main street sidewalk program which included sidewalks and spanning a wide wetland area. The Town was seeking a low cost, durable, low maintenance pedestrian bridge that would limit disturbance to the sensitive wetland both during and after construction.



THE S0LUTION: The new bridge consisted of an AASHTO pedestrian live load designed timber superstructure on concrete filled steel pipe piles with cast-in-place reinforced concrete pile caps, abutments and wingwalls. The bridge length is 44.7 m (147 ft.) consisting of six spans ranging in length from 5.5 m (18 ft.) to 9.1 m (30 ft.), with a rail to rail width of 1.8 m (6 ft.). The bridge was constructed on the side of a tall highway embankment adjacent to Route 6 so as to limit disturbance to the wetland. Steel pipe piles were selected for strength during driving through the embankment which contained boulders and cobbles, and due to their "displacement" characteristics, which were advantageous to their friction type design. Cast-in-place pile caps provided the needed tolerance for piles that are inevitably slightly misaligned during driving operations, and the needed rigidity for the pier structural design. A railing aesthetic study was included to allow the owner to select this important feature to the overall bridge appearance. Timbers below the deck were treated with creosote, and timbers above the deck were treated with ACQ which contains no arsenic or chromium. A wood polymer was utilized for the decking and top most rail.




The bridge was completed in 2002 after approximately 5 months of construction. Final construction cost was approximately $287,000 which included the bridge and approximately 350 m (1,150 ft.) of 1.2 m (4 ft.) wide bituminous concrete sidewalk. A grant from the State of Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development funded the majority of the construction costs.

Complete bridge engineering services were provided by Nathan L. Jacobson & Associates, Inc., of Chester, Connecticut. Project management was directed by a principal of the firm specializing in bridge design. Services included survey, planning, type studies, design, right-of-way and permit procurement, bidding, shop drawing review, construction administration and periodic construction inspection.