THURSDAY, JULY 11, 2024
The Foresthill Bridge in Placer County, California, is soon expected to undergo ultrasonic testing on its steel weld points to provide preventative maintenance.
The 730-foot-tall bridge spans 2,428 feet across the North Fork of the American River canyon. Dubbed the tallest bridge in California, it is also reported to be the third highest bridge in the United States.
About the Project
At the end of last month, the Placer County Board of Supervisors approved a $6.3 million in contracts—funded 80% with federal funds from the Federal Highway Bridge Program and 20% by California’s SB1 Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Account funds—for the project.
According to the county, the welds that have two plates of steel joined together, called butt welds, on the bridge were constructed with T-1 steel.
However, inspectors recently closed the Jennings Randolph Bridge in Ohio due to a suspected issue with T-1 steel cracking, prompting the Federal Highway Administration to launch a program to ensure bridge safety across the country on similar bridges.
Commuters will soon notice an under-bridge inspection truck on the Foresthill Bridge as work begins on a federally-mandated and federally-funded inspections. The bridge is safe and will remain open. https://t.co/y0jJbhyPR6 pic.twitter.com/VoVljiLcy6
— Placer County (@PlacerCA) June 28, 2024
“This is a non-destructive inspection that really is a quality assurance measure,” said Placer County Department of Public Works Deputy Director Matt Randall. “Foresthill Bridge is safe and will remain open during the process.”
During the inspection, a contractor will reportedly use an under-bridge inspection truck or temporary scaffolding to access the 282 butt-weld locations, remove paint and perform the ultrasonic testing.
Data from the inspection will then be provided to the Caltrans Material Engineering and Testing Services Division for quality assurance analysis. Testing results will include acceptance or rejection of welds, and a final report will be submitted to the California Department of Transportation.
Repairs, if necessary, could include drilling holes in the vicinity of a deficient portion of a weld or require the preparation of a construction plan for a connection retrofit, which would be prepared under a separate competitive construction bid.
Inspection work is scheduled to begin later this summer and continue through spring 2025.
“It’s iconic,” Randall told The Sacramento Bee, “so we want to make sure we do a good job with this.”
About 25 people will work on the project, Randall said, including employees from the county, private consultants and Caltrans. Each weld will be double checked for quality assurance to make sure they are structurally sound.
“We have multiple people looking at these to make sure we don’t make any mistakes,” Randall said.
The Foresthill Bridge is reportedly one of about 25 bridges throughout California that will undergo similar testing.
Tagged categories: Bridges; Bridges; Infrastructure; Infrastructure; Quality assurance; Quality control; Steel; Testing + Evaluation; Transportation; Upcoming projects
