Route 27-Washington Boulevard Bridge Rehabilitation

On this $20 million bridge rehabilitation, OHLA USA subsidiary, Judlau Contracting performed an extensive bridge rehabilitation on Washington Boulevard/Route 27 over Route 110.  Route 27 is an arterial road, with a 45-mph speed limit and three lanes in each direction. The bridge links Northern Virginia to the Pentagon's north parking area, Arlington Cemetery, and downtown Washington, D.C. The 300-foot-long, four-span continuous steel girder bridge featured a concrete deck with a six-foot raised median and two eight-foot raised sidewalks. The two abutments were pile-supported vault structures with cast-in-place concrete columns and beams. The North vault abutment rests 15 feet above and just to the side of WMATA train tunnels, and construction required close monitoring of the tunnels for signs of movement and/or distress.

The rehabilitated bridge features a 460-foot-long, six-span, slightly curved superstructure that is 9 feet wider, and supports three 12.5-foot lanes in each direction, a protected eight-foot sidewalk on the west side, and a protected 14-foot shared-use path on the east side. The granite stone facing the abutments was removed, cleaned, and reinstalled. New abutments and new piers are supported on drilled shafts with permanent steel casings. The structure was demolished and rebuilt in four phases to allow for maintaining four lanes of traffic flow at all times.