The Wilson Creek Bridge (also known as the Smart Road Bridge) is the second tallest bridge in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

at tall, the tallest being the US-460 Corridor Q bridge over Grassy Creek and Virginia State Route 610 between Pike County and Buchanan County at tall. The Wilson Creek Bridge is located in Montgomery County and was built as part of the

Virginia Smart Road The Virginia Smart Road, also known as simply the Smart Road or Smart Highway, is a short, limited access road in Montgomery County, Virginia, used for the testing of pavement technologies and as a proving ground for new transportation technologie ...

project. It is a cast-in-place

cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is supported at only one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a canti ...

box girder bridge A box girder bridge, or box section bridge, is a bridge in which the main beams comprise girders in the shape of a hollow box. The box girder normally comprises prestressed concrete, structural steel, or a composite of steel and reinf ...

and extends for with three spans of and two spans of .

Construction

Construction began in August 1998. The bridge was designed by

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

-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 Natchez Trace Parkway Bridge is a concrete double arch bridge located in Williamson County, Tennessee, from the northern terminus of the Natchez Trace Parkway. It is long and carries the two-lane Natchez Trace Parkway over State Route 9 ...

. The bridge is composed of four double-tapered

piers Piers may refer to: * Pier, a raised structure over a body of water * Pier (architecture), an architectural support * Piers (name), a given name and surname (including lists of people with the name) * Piers baronets, two titles, in the baronetages ...

with stone inlay, two conventional

abutments An abutment is the substructure at the ends of a bridge span or dam supporting its superstructure. Single-span bridges have abutments at each end which provide vertical and lateral support for the span, as well as acting as retaining walls ...

, 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. The cast-in-place structure consists of of concrete, of reinforcing steel, and of steel cables.

Awards

In 2002, the bridge received an honorable mention in the

Federal Highway Administration The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two programs, the Federal-aid Highway Program a ...

'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 The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

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 and a height which varies from to . Power and communication lines are carried in the hollow concrete box and run the length of the bridge. Manholes in the bridge deck allow researchers to enter the box to monitor 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 Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also ...

Bridge Pictures

Early constructionDuring constructionBelow main spans during constructionAerial looking southeastLooking east across Ellett Valley and Wilson CreekLooking northeastLooking northwest

References

{{reflist *Brian Fortner, "High-Tech Highway", ''Civil Engineering'', October, 1999 *Gunnar Lucko
"Means and Methods Analysis of a Cast-In-Place Balanced Cantilever Segmental Bridge: The Wilson Creek Bridge Case Study"
Master's Thesis:

br>Department of Civil Engineering
November 30, 1999, accessed April 1, 2007 *"'Smart' Road Getting New Name: Willis", ''

Roanoke Times ''The Roanoke Times'' is the primary newspaper in Southwestern Virginia and is based in Roanoke, Virginia, United States. It is published by Lee Enterprises. In addition to its headquarters in Roanoke, it maintains a bureau in Christiansburg, ...

'', May 12, 2001 *Keith Harrison
"Wilson Creek Bridge Complete; Research Just Beginning"
Marshall Concrete Products ''The Star'', Fall/Winter 2001, Volume 2, Issue 2, accessed December 29, 2008
American Segmental Bridge Institute (ASBI)"Smart Road Bridge, Near Blacksburg, VA, Receives CRSI Award"
May 17, 2002, accessed April 1, 2007 *"Smart Road Bridge Wins Kudos", ''

'', May 17, 2002
"FHWA Gives Awards to Top Highway Designs"
Federal Highway Administration, October 13, 2002
"Design and Construction of Smart Road Over Wilson Creek: Montgomery County, Virginia"

Transportation Research Board The Transportation Research Board (TRB) is a division of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, formerly the National Research Council of the United States, which serves as an independent adviser to the President of the Unite ...

of the National Academies, 2002, accessed May 16, 2007 *Gunnar Lucko and Jesús M. de la Garza
"Constructability Considerations for Balanced Cantilever Construction"
''Practice Periodical on Structural Design and Construction'', Volume 8, Issue 1, pp. 47–56, February, 2003, accessed July 20, 2007 * Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT)
"2003 success stories"
accessed April 1, 2007 *

American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) is a standards setting body which publishes specifications, test quality control, protocols, and guidelines that are used in highway design and construction through ...

- Subcommittee on Bridges and Structures
"Our Nation's Bridges: Virginia"
June 2, 2005, accessed April 1, 2007
VDOT - The Smart Road Bridge Over Wilson Creek
October 29, 2006, accessed April 1, 2007 *Greg Esposito, "Smart Road does bring benefits to valley", ''

'', April 1, 2007
Figg Engineering Group
accessed August 13, 2008
PCL - construction details
accessed August 13, 2008

accessed August 13, 2008
Marshall Concrete Products - construction details on concrete for piers, superstructure, and bridge decks
accessed December 29, 2008
NXL - inspection and engineering services
accessed August 13, 2008

Construction

Awards

Unique Features

Bridge Pictures

References

See also