Owner: New York City Department of Transportation

Project Description

The Manhattan Bridge connects Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn, carrying vehicular traffic, transit trains, pedestrians and bicycles across the East River. This prominent suspension bridge has undergone numerous maintenance and rehabilitation projects since its opening in 1909.

The latest reconstruction program included re-wrapping the main cables and replacing the suspender ropes. To ensure additional decades of continued use, D.S. Brown’s Cableguard Elastomeric Cable Wrap System was specified to protect the main cables against future corrosion.

Cableguard Elastomeric Cable Wrap System

Cableguard Elastomeric Cable Wrap System was specified for the Manhattan Bridge because it provides long-term protection for the bridge’s main suspension cables. This environmentally safe, longlife elastomeric wrap protects suspension and stayed bridge cables from corrosion and considerably reduces future maintenance costs.

The unique Cableguard protective wrap completely encapsulates existing surface coatings without scraping, grinding or painting before installation. The material also provides excellent UV and ozone resistance and is in use on installations worldwide.

Owner: Maryland Transportation Authority

Project Description

The Chesapeake Bay Bridges link the Baltimore – Washington Metropolitan Area to Ocean City, Maryland and other coastal destinations. In 2012, the Maryland Transportation Authority announced a preservation project for both the eastbound and westbound structures that included re-wrapping the span’s suspension cables and installing a dehumidification system.

Dehumidification of enclosed steel cables on suspension bridges is accepted and employed as an active corrosion protection method on many new and rehabilitated suspension bridges around the world.

Cableguard Elastomeric Cable Wrap System

D.S. Brown’s Cableguard creates a flexible, watertight seal that is ideal for use with cable dehumidification systems. This effective sealing wrap is applied to a bridge’s main suspension cable and a dehumidification system forces air through the enclosed cable. A control and monitoring system provides ongoing and automatic adjustments to the system to correct real-time conditions and maintain optimum humidity. This innovative protective wrap is easily installed and accommodates future cable inspection. Cableguard is also available in many colors for new bridge construction and rehabilitation projects.

Owner: Chicago Transit Authority

Project Description

In the summer of 2012, three bridges on the Chicago Transit Authority’s Purple Line were found to have deteriorated from age and excessive use. The damage was determined to be irreparable and the  structures were torn down. Replacement bridges were constructed offsite and D.S. Brown’s Deckguard waterproofing membrane was applied to the steel deck surface.

Rigorous safety requirements and high temperature conditions made the utilization of spray-on membrane challenging, but the product and its application process proved successful. The use of Deckguard on the bridge decks ensures their protection from water corrosion for 50 years.

D.S. Brown Deckguard Spray Membrane

Deckguard Spray Membrane is a 100% solids two-component, elastomeric coating used to waterproof both steel and concrete bridge decks in highway and rail structures. Applied using plural spray equipment, Deckguard provides a seamless, flexible and extremely durable barrier against water penetration and stray current.

D.S. Brown’s Deckguard Spray Membrane is specifically engineered for use on highway and railroad bridge decks, bridge abutments, pier caps, tunnels and pedestrian walkways. This effective waterproofing membrane can be used on intermodal and LRT rail bridges with or without protection board.

Owner: St. Lawrence County

Project Description

In 2012, the St. Lawrence County Department of Public Works began a critical bridge maintenance project in Massena, New York. The Alcoa Street Bridge was sprayed with D.S. Brown’s Deckguard waterproofing membrane, protecting it from water penetration and corrosion prior to application of a new asphalt overlay.

Deckguard Spray Membrane System

Deckguard provides a watertight barrier on both steel and concrete substrates against freeze-thaw degradation and the corrosive effects of winter salt spray ensuring extended service life of bridge structures. This innovative waterproofing material has been tested to meet or exceed the most stringent DOT and AREMA standards.

D.S. Brown is the only manufacturer of waterproofing membranes who evaluates each product batch and offers a spectrograph analysis to assure installed product quality. D.S. Brown also provides onsite Quality Assurance inspections for the duration of each project.

Owner: Kentucky Transportation Cabinet

Project Information

Eggner’s Ferry Bridge was originally constructed across the Tennessee River in 1932 and the span was further elevated ten years later to accommodate the creation of Kentucky Lake. It served the surrounding counties for decades, but plans were developed to replace the bridge as traffic continued to increase. The new structure was to be a tied-arch bridge with four lanes of roadway, a walkway and bike path.

These plans changed in 2012 when the cargo vessel Delta Mariner crashed into the bridge, causing the collapse of its main span. An emergency operation was quickly started to install a truss span to replace the collapsed bridge. D.S Brown provided four Versiflex HLMR Pot Bearings for this critical project and helped restore the US 68/Kentucky Route 80 commuter corridor ahead of schedule.

Versiflex HLMR Pot Bearing Assemblies

Versiflex HLMR Pot Bearings are ideal in applications where low-profile, high-load bearing devices are required. These are especially suited for complex structures like the Eggner’s Ferry Bridge, allowing for horizontal movements in a single direction and the capability to resist externally-applied horizontal forces in the orthogonal direction. Fixed bearing assemblies transmit horizontal forces in any direction through contact between the piston and the inside of the pot wall. Horizontal movement is restricted in all directions while accommodating rotational movement of the bridge superstructure.

Owner: California Department of Transportation

Structure Information

The San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge is one of the busiest spans in the world with nearly 300,000 vehicles crossing it each day. Construction began in 2002 on the replacement of the east span of the “Bay Bridge” in response to its partial collapse during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. The new structure is a single-tower self-anchored suspension bridge at Yerba Buena Island.

Swivel Expansion Joint Assemblies

D.S. Brown manufactured high performance Maurer System Swivel Expansion Joint Assemblies for installation on sections of the new east span of the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge. This critical seismic application required expansion joints that will accommodate the potential movement caused by an 8.5 magnitude earthquake.

The innovative design of the Maurer System Swivel Expansion Joint Assembly utilizes a swiveling support bar to accommodate large longitudinal, transverse and vertical displacements, as well as vertical rotations of up to 10 degrees. The centerbeams are free to slide on swiveling support bars that provide equidistant control for centerbeams without the limitations of typical mechanical control devices.

Dynamic tests have subjected this joint assembly design to high-velocity displacements of more than 40 inches per second (1015mm/sec) in both longitudinal and transverse directions. Successful test results prove the unique capabilities of this patented device in seismic applications.

Owner: Washington State Department of Transportation

Structure Information

Today, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge is a twin span connecting the city of Tacoma, Washington with the Kitsap Peninsula. The original 1940 single span was infamous for its swaying deck and the entire structure collapsed during a wind storm after only a few months of service. The current westbound suspension bridge replaced the collapsed crossing with a technically advanced span. The eastbound bridge was completed in 2007 and expanded capacity from 60,000 to 90,000 vehicles per day

Swivel Expansion Joint Assemblies

D.S. Brown worked closely with project engineers to design and manufacture a pair of Maurer System Swivel Expansion Joint Assemblies with unique application-specific requirements. These extremely large joints are designed to allow movements of the eastbound span of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge during dramatic wind and seismic activity with up to 56 inches of structural swaying.

Conventional large movement expansion joint devices are limited to primarily longitudinal movements and/or less than +/- 0.8 inches(20mm) transverse displacement. D.S. Brown’s Maurer System Swivel Expansion Joint Assembly is ideal for long span structures with demanding differential longitudinal movements caused by wind, thermal and seismic conditions.