Curved, precast, pretensioned concrete I-girder bridges

The use of curved, precast, pretensioned concrete girders as an alternative to curved post-tensioned concrete girders and curved steel girders may have many advantages. A feasibility study has shown that the pretensioned concrete system is more cost effective than the other two. Many bridge designers have gradually recognized this trend. This paper summarizes a review of the current practice of horizontally curved bridge construction. A 1/10-scale, curved, precast, pretensioned concrete beam was fabricated in the laboratory to illustrate the feasibility of fabrication in a precast concrete plant. A cost analysis was conducted to compare the estimated cost of a curved, precast, pretensioned concrete I-girder with that of a curved, precast, post-tensioned concrete I-girder. The results showed that the pretensioned concrete system has the potential to become the most cost-effective system for curved bridge construction.