Bridges Brochure | HNTB

Setting the standard for technical excellence

Setting the Standard

Founded as a moveable bridge firm more than a century ago, HNTB brings unsurpassed technical expertise to all bridge projects.

Prioritizing Client Success

HNTB collaborates with clients to deliver extraordinary value. We provide full-service capabilities and advanced technology to the planning, design and construction of complex span and movable bridges. The firm’s design and construction experts help clients and contractors achieve successful results that improve mobility and augment quality of life in local communities.

Our expertise in planning, design, program and construction management combined with our use of advanced technologies enables us to deliver successful projects.

Broadway Bridge over the Arkansas River

Arkansas

For nearly 100 years, the Broadway Bridge has been a critical traffic link between the communities of Little

Rock and North Little Rock and a landmark dedicated to World War I veterans.

HNTB designed the main spans of the Broadway Bridge, which were composed of two 448-ft network tied-arch spans with steel plate girder approaches. The lengths of the five approach spans vary from 126-227 ft. The final design consists of inclined basket-handle arches with a framed-in floor system, which lowered costs. The tied arches allowed a signature structure to be constructed on the existing alignment ahead of the anticipated 180-day bridge closure by using an accelerated bridge construction technique to float the arches into place. The new bridge provides a safe and iconic mobility solution to the growing population.

The American Council of Engineering Companies of Arkansas awarded the bridge with its top honor, Grand Conceptor. It also named it first in the structural systems category.

Cable-Stayed Bridge

Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge

Missouri and Illinois

Successful example of multi-state agency and stakeholder coordination

The third-longest cable-stayed span in the U.S., the new Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge boasts a superstructure that employs steel-edge girder composite with the concrete deck and concrete delta-shaped pylons that rise 400 ft. above the river. HNTB served as lead designer for the Missouri and Illinois Departments of Transportation and completed design for the bridge within one year. The bridge features a 1,500-ft. main span that carries Interstate 70 across the Mississippi River in downtown St. Louis.

ACEC-Illinois Eminent Conceptor Award and ACEC-Missouri Grand Conceptor Award

Movable Bridge

Excellence in Structural Engineering Award, NCSEA

First Place in the movable Span Category, NSBA

National Recognition Award, ACED Project of the Year Award, APWA

#1 Bridge Project, Roads & Bridge Top Ten Bridges

South Park Bascule Bridge Replacement

Washington

HNTB achieved the project goal — to design a movable bridge that would be open to traffic immediately after a minor earthquake and be closed to traffic for a limited time for repairs after a major earthquake — by implementing innovative ideas such as sunken caisson foundations, isolated trunnion frame and a collapsible center joint on the bascule spans.

Pedestrian Bridge

The bridge provides connectivity to more than 150 miles of trails in Iowa and Nebraska has a park and landing area on the Omaha side of the bridge.

Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge

Nebraska

The HNTB steel structure has a graceful curvilinear S-shaped design that gently meanders from Omaha, Nebraska to Council Bluffs, Iowa, symbolizing the waters of the Missouri River that flows below. Despite crossing an area of the river that is only 800 feet wide, the bridge stretches out for more than 2,300 feet — making it one of the longest pedestrian bridges in the nation. The completed pedestrian bridge, along with an adjacent park and landing area, are the epicenter of activity. Visually striking and functional, the bridge is a catalyst for community involvement and economic growth.

National ACEC Grand Award; Design-Build Institute of America Design-Build Merit Award

A signature structure and a point of pride, the bridge provides connection to two communities over the Missouri River

Jeremiah Morrow Bridge

Ohio

Ohio’s longest and tallest bridge

When the new Jeremiah Morrow Bridge opened in 2016, its twin structures were among Ohio’s longest at 2,252 feet and its tallest at 239 feet above ground. Situated above the picturesque Little Miami River and Gorge, the bridge carries vehicles daily between Cincinnati and Columbus. Preserving the natural beauty, protecting habitat and erosion control were critical objectives throughout construction. HNTB provided ongoing construction services to the Ohio Department of Transportation and served as design engineer of record for the six-year project.

ACEC- Ohio: Outstanding Achievement Award

Tacoma Narrows Bridge

Washington

Proven engineering knowledge gave the Tacoma Narrows Bridge sure footing in the earthquake-prone area

HNTB was engaged to design a new structurally sound span by tapping into our expertise in seismic design. In analyzing ground motion studies and historical data from past area earthquakes, the team revealed that the large diameter drilled shaft foundation proposed for the structure was too high-risk to withstand the deep water, swift two way tidal flows and complex geotechnical features it would encounter.

Instead, HNTB proposed and, in just 10 days, delivered a conceptual design to use massive, deep-water gravity caissons to support the bridge. Firmly planted more than 200 feet below the water surface, the western caisson is 208 feet high — the equivalent of an underwater 24-story building. The eastern caisson is approximately 130 feet long, 80 feet wide and 234 feet high.

National ACEC Engineering Excellence Grand Award; ASCE

Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement Merit Award

Suspension Bridge

Tilikum Crossing

Oregon

The first long-span, cable-stayed transit bridge built in the U.S., honors the people who first lived in the Pacific Northwest region.

Tilikum Crossing, also known as Bridge of the People, is the only bridge of its kind in the U.S. It was the first transit-only, cable-stayed crossing that carries trains, buses, streetcars, cyclists and pedestrians. Operated by Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon, Portland’s public transportation service, also is the first bridge to be built across the Willamette River in the region in more than 40 years.

When it opened in Fall 2015, the Portland Milwaukie Light Rail Orange Line project was on time and under budget. Tilikum Crossing is the epitome of a project designed with community input. HNTB worked as the owner’s engineer on the design-build project, determining the bridge’s type, size, and conceptual design.

Honoring native residents of the region, TriMet named Portland’s 12th bridge “Tilikum Crossing.” “Tilikum” is drawn from the Chinook Wawa language that was used for centuries by Native Americans and newcomers to the area.

Tilikum means “people,” “tribe” and “relatives,” and symbolizes coming together. Over time, it also has come to mean “friends.”

Canadian National Railway Bridge 173.20 over the Fox River

Wisconsin

The existing three-span single-track Fox River Bridge at CN Railway M.P. 173.20, Neenah Subdivision, required rehabilitation or reconstruction to support reliable service on CN’s core line between Winnipeg to Chicago. The Fox River Bridge is located in close proximity to the popular Lake Winnebago, requiring the existing swing span to open more than 1,600 times per year during the recreational boating season that lasts from May to late October each year.

HNTB embarked on a three-phase project to implement improvements to the CN’s Fox River Crossing, culminating with the accelerated replacement of the historic bridge and installing a new rolling bascule truss and fixed approach spans.

An accelerated replacement of a historic bridge and installation of a new rolling bascule truss and fixed approach spans

Construction Innovation Forum NOVA Award

Construction Innovation

Huey P. Long Bridge

Louisiana

Located in Louisiana’s Jefferson Parish, the Huey P. Long bridge serves as a primary Mississippi River crossing in the area. In a need to increase the bridge’s commuter capacity, HNTB was engaged for the widening challenge and proposed an unconventional plan for new steel trusses to widen the 2,380-ft bridge.

The plan, to utilize a vertical-lateral move, involved a pair of truss panels on each side of the bridge for three of the four main spans to be lifted simultaneously. Two of these truss lifts had to first clear the recently widened piers. Then each truss panel had to move laterally back over the pier before being set down on bearings. This combination of lifting and lateral movement for a large pair of truss panels had never before been tried. The successful widening project resulted in the superstructure having three 11-foot travel lanes in each direction, 2-foot inside shoulders, 8-foot outside shoulders, and two railroad tracks, ultimately providing a safer, more reliable commute.

Using an innovative verticallateral move method to widen the bridge

Accelerated Bridge Construction

New York’s I-84 over Dingle Ridge Road Rapid Bridge Replacement

Use of ABC method for the first time in New York

As the lead designer and construction support consultant, HNTB’s innovative approach using accelerated bridge construction for the I-84 over Dingle Ridge Road, successfully replaced the twin bridges within two 20-hour weekend closures – saving New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) $2 million and one year of construction time. The team’s use of the cutting-edge ABC method on the interstate was a first-of-its-kind application in New York State.

ABC Conference awards, Best ABC project in Lateral Slide category; ACEC New York Engineering Excellence Diamond Award

U.S. 84 Mississippi River Bridge

Mississippi and Louisiana

A first-ever approach to pin-and-link replacement breathes new life into a veteran Mississippi River span.

At 75 years old, the original U.S. 84 Mississippi River Bridge, also known as the Natchez-Vidalia Bridge, was showed its age. Built in 1940, this vital connector between Natchez, Mississippi, and Vidalia, Louisiana, was originally designed by HNTB. After decades of use, a routine, in-depth inspection found that a truss pin had begun to shift. A later inspection showed a second pin was shifting.

Two of the bridge’s eight links and four corresponding pins needed replacing. After considering all options, the work resulted in bridge repairs for a fraction of the cost of a new structure. It was the first time pins of this size were replaced on a vehicular bridge. Replacement of the upper and lower pins and links was a success and the bridge has a new lease on life.

ACEC Mississippi Chapter, Grand Conceptor Award

Goethals Bridge Replacement Bridge

York and New Jersey

A dual cable-stay project and first public-private partnership in the northeast

A vital regional link, the Goethals Bridge carries I-278 over the Arthur Kill waterway, linking Elizabeth, New Jersey, NJ Route 439, Route I-278, the New Jersey Turnpike to the Staten Island Expressway. HNTB served as an extension of staff since 2004 supporting the Goethals Bridge Replacement Program. HNTB lead the initial concept development, cost estimating, preliminary design and constructability engineering for the Goethals project concurrent to the EIS Phase. HNTB became the Authority’s P3 technical advisor and full-time project management staff extension to provide technical, managerial and support services through this complex project’s procurement and design and construction phases.

New

Mario M. Cuomo Bridge

First cable-stayed bridge across the Hudson River

The Mario M. Cuomo Bridge, an iconic twin-span cable-stayed crossing linking Westchester and Rockland counties in New York, opened to traffic on both spans in September 2018. The 3.1-mile bridge with its ancillary facilities is one of the largest projects in the United States and the biggest in the history of the New York State Thruway Authority.

Lakefront Trail Pedestrian Bridge

Illinois

Connecting paths along Chicago’s lakefront

Few engineering projects have achieved the perfect balance of form, function and aesthetics as the Navy Pier Flyover, the pedestrian bridge that now fully connects the north and south paths of Chicago’s Lakefront Trail. HNTB designed the 1,750-foot flyover that gives users of the Lakefront Trail a safe thoroughfare through one of the most congested points in the trail, Navy Pier, the top tourist attraction in the city. The design of the 16-foot-wide flyover utilizes a central steel spine and a longitudinal spine-rib support system that allows the bridge to curve up, down and around.

National ACEC Grand Award

U.S. 90 Bridge Across St. Louis Bay Mississippi

Reconstructed crossing acts as a catalyst for reviving commerce and restoring hope to Mississippi’s Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina destruction

Hurricane winds destroyed the original Bridge Across St. Louis Bay, leaving a more than two-mile gap on U.S. Highway 90. The structure connects Bay St. Louis, Mississippi and Pass Christian, Mississippi. Not having the bridge in service meant a long detour for area residents. HNTB was engaged as the design engineer on the design-build reconstruction project and outlined a very aggressive schedule, and utilized large, locally fabricated, precast sections for the pile bent capbeams and prestressed concrete BT-78 girders. All four lanes of the 2.1-mile Bridge Across St. Louis Bay opened to traffic in January 2008, just 18 months after construction began.

Track Rehabilitation

Ben

Franklin Bridge PATCO Track Rehabilitation

Delivered sooner than expected and under budget

As designer and construction monitor, HNTB helped the Delaware River Port Authority plan and execute three lengthy closures to accelerate the Ben Franklin Bridge Port Authority Transit Corporation Track Rehabilitation project. The 88-year-old bridge underwent a 3-mile commuter track replacement that required separate, continuous track outages, the longest in the line’s 50-year history. Two years after the project kicked off, the groundbreaking replacement project was completed sooner than expected with millions of dollars under budget and minimal disruption.

Pennsylvania and New Jersey

ASCE’s Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement award

Golden Gate Bridge

California

Delivering safety and security to one of America’s iconic landmarks

The 1.7-mile-long structure serves as a gateway for more than 40 million vehicles each year and is recognized by the American Society of Civil Engineers as one of seven engineering wonders of the United States. Based in the San Francisco Bay region, the Golden Gate Bridge is in an earthquakeprone area. HNTB was engaged to work on completing a seismic retrofit for the Golden Gate Bridge, providing a range of construction services to the project. This included construction management, claims and schedule support services, inspections, and other related services. HNTB has also served as the designer of the new suicide deterrent system.

Portsmouth Memorial Lift Bridge

New Hamphire

HNTB’s groundbreaking bridge design simplifies fabrication, speeds erection and reunites two communities

In 1923, the World War I Memorial Bridge connecting Kittery, Maine, and Portsmouth, New Hampshire, opened to traffic and became the first center-span vertical-lift truss bridge in America. Ninety-one years later, its replacement, a pioneering modified plate girder design, became the world’s first gussetless truss bridge. With its cost-savings and long-lasting innovations, this bridge focuses on the future while concurrently giving a nod to the past by reconnecting two communities for generations to come.

As the bridge designer, HNTB helped deliver a new lifeline to these communities. The thoughtful design accelerated construction to decrease inconvenience to the public; was sensitive to environmental concerns, managed swift currents and heavy waterways, and met unique design requirements for moveable bridges.

Value Engineering

ACEC/ Region 9 (California)

Outstanding Bridge Project of the Year award; APWA South Bay Chapter Merit Award; California Transportation Foundation Pedestrian/Bicycle Project of the Year

Mary Avenue Bridge

California

The first cable-stayed bridge, crossing an interstate highway in California

The Mary Avenue Footbridge connects suburban communities between two cities to schools and work centers previously divided by the highway. The bridge now includes gateway paths, extensive landscaping, and public art for viewing by bicyclist and pedestrians alike.

The 500-foot-long steel structure spans eight lanes of Interstate 280. Approximately 240 tons of steel were used for the project, which was built with a structural steel girder-and -beam superstructure. It is surrounded by nearly 12 acres of native landscaping, complete with sound wall reconstruction and 1,700 feet of lighted bicycle and pedestrian paths. HNTB served as lead designer and used value engineering methods to develop a visually stunning, functional and affordable project design.

11th Street Bridge

Washington D.C

To deliver this critical mobilityenhancing project an innovative approach of design-build-to-budget delivery mechanism was employed, saving the client $80 million on the completed bridge.

The new 11th Street Bridge project provides critically needed infrastructure, relieves city streets of interstate traffic and connects pedestrians and multimodal traffic on both sides of the Anacostia River with recreational, commercial and retail space. The redesign enhances mobility, improves access and provides faster evacuation from the nation’s capital. Read more about this revitalization project: [Link]

ARTBA Pride Award

Sixth Street Viaduct Bridge

California

The Sixth Street bridge design honors the original viaduct with innovative safety, durability and beauty features to connect communities. The project has a 100-year service life, making it the first HNTB design to use the Envision infrastructure rating system for sustainability and resource efficiency. At risk of failure in the event of an earthquake, the new structure features white concrete arches of varying heights canted at 9 degrees — an industry first. The bridge also features a concrete “Y” column that branches into arches using grade 80 rebar instead of grade 60, a first for the state of California, and the use of friction pendulum seismic isolation bearings to vastly improve seismic performance.

A design that pays tribute to the original bridge — a backdrop in movies, videos and commercials

Franklin Avenue

Minnesota

Bridge

Innovative construction method used to rehabilitate bridge quickly

HNTB used the innovative Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC) method to rehabilitate the Franklin Avenue Bridge. Two arch ribs support the bridge’s deck and spandrel cap beams. Replacing the cap beams while maintaining traffic on the bridge would require substantial falsework and take approximately two construction seasons to complete with traditional cast-in-place methods. Therefore, the solution was to close the bridge and complete deck and spandrel cap beam replacement using ABC methods. This forward-thinking led to the project’s successful completion in just four short months.

Construction

National Accelerated Bridge Construction Conference, Best ABC Project Prefabricated Bridge Elements and Systems Category (Historic Rehabilitation) Award

Gerald Desmond Bridge California

Improved traffic flow for Long Beach signature bridge

This project signifies three engineering and bridge design firsts for California:

• The first traffic cable-stayed bridge in California, the second cable-stayed bridge on the West Coast

• The first cable-stayed bridge in an active seismic zone

• The first segmental construction bridge in a seismic zone

HNTB, as part of a joint-venture team, provided technical oversight for the design/build contract of the 2,000-footlong cable-stayed Gerald Desmond Bridge for Caltrans and the Port of Long Beach. The Port of Long Beach wanted a bridge design that would provide an iconic identity for the entire Southern California area, similar to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. HNTB provided bridge type study, conceptual, preliminary and final design resulting in Long Beach’s vibrant, new structural icon.

Design-Build

California Transportation Foundation’s Project of the Year

I-405 Sepulveda Pass Widening Design Build

California

The I-405 Northbound roadway was widened to include a 10-mile high-occupancy vehicle lane, bringing existing lanes and shoulders to full standard from I-10 to US 101. The project improved several supporting infrastructure ramps, bridges and added several miles of soundwalls.

HNTB served as lead designer for the replacement and widening of twenty-three bridges and several miles of retaining walls, including geometrics, roadway, grading, drainage, utilities, construction staging and traffic handling, signing and striping, landscape, electrical, metering and ITS. Our technical experts implemented several innovative solutions on the structures of this project. HNTB designs used precast deck panels, steel superstructure with eccentric integral concrete bent caps with complex staging, and mechanically stabilized earth walls supported on pile footings to avoid loading sensitive utilities. In addition, HNTB engineers used special software to help the contractor resolve geometrical and loading complexities for their bridge falsework design. The innovative approach by HNTB reduced the project’s material quantities and improved the schedule, thus reducing construction costs.

Revitalization

National Council for Public-Private Partnership (NCPPP), Infrastructure Project Award

Presidio Parkway

California

Cost-effective solutions to remedy challenging soil conditions.

As California’s first transportation-related P3 project, this high-profile effort involves completely reconstructing approximately two miles of Doyle Drive, including 10 bridges, three cut-and-cover tunnel sections constructed below the high-water level, 11 retaining walls and an at-grade section. This project also reconstructs the Park Presidio and Presidio Access interchanges and improves local street circulation in the area.

The project site posed many challenges due to tsunami potential, poor load-bearing soil, a substantial level of seismic acceleration probability, and high liquefaction potential in loose sands. The team developed innovative and cost-effective remedies to address these challenges by using cement deep soil mixing to improve the soil material beneath the structures. These solutions allowed an at-grade roadway alignment, replacement of the existing viaduct structures and helped restore vistas within the Presidio National Park and along the northern section of the San Francisco waterfront.

With unique features of a parkway, not a freeway, Presidio Parkway will allow pedestrians and bicyclists to cross over or under the roadway, implementing the next phase of the Presidio Trails and Bikeways Master Plan.