Lake Cumberland Bridge, Kentucky Rt. 90 – Fab

Completed in 2006 by American Bridge, the Lake Cumberland Bridge, Kentucky RT. 90 – Fab project consisted of a new 1,712′ (522m) bridge over Cumberland Lake in Eastern Kentucky. The four-lane bridge included a 1,572′ (479m) two-span continuous steel truss that is 130′ (40m) tall at the center, and has a vertical clearance of 84′ (26m) over normal pool elevation. The contract also included roadway approach sections of 1,312′ (400m) on each side, the cast-in-place concrete roadway deck on the bridge, and the demolition of the existing 1,591′ (485m), eight-span deck truss bridge and associated piers. The weight of the structural steel was 11,850 tons (10,750mt). The bridge was erected by the balanced cantilever method using an innovative erection scheme that minimized falsework requirements and eliminated the need for additional steel for erection purposes. American Bridge engineers developed a methodology that utilized American Bridge owned falsework strutted diagonally to the pier, eliminating the need for bents in the deep water. In addition, American Bridge accelerated the construction of the precast concrete approach span and first five panel points of the truss to facilitate steel delivery to the water-based erection rigs, avoiding the need for a construction staging yard. Design Engineer: Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.