Milton-Madison Bridge Replacement Wins Top Honor from ACEC Indiana
The Milton-Madison Bridge Replacement project received the top honor in the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) of Indiana Engineering Excellence Awards competition.
The Grand Project Award was presented to Scott Sondles and Tom Bolte from Burgess & Niple, Charlie Gannon from Walsh Construction and Mike Cline, former Indiana Department of Transportation Commissioner during the ACEC Indiana chapter’s Engineering Excellence Awards Luncheon held on March 5th.
The 2,428-foot-long truss superstructure of the Milton-Madison Bridge made history in April 2014 when it was moved 55 feet from temporary bridge piers onto permanent, rehabilitated piers. It is believed that this is the largest lateral bridge slide in North America, and possibly the world.
The design-build team of Walsh Construction, Burgess & Niple and Buckland & Taylor, proposed this innovative solution as a time and cost savings measure for the Indiana Department of Transportation.
To qualify for federal funding, the bridge had to be reconstructed on its current alignment which would have taken it out of service during the replacement. Because it is the only crossing on a 72-mile stretch along the Ohio River, the contract required bidders to include the cost for a year-long ferry service that would accommodate 240 vehicles per hour and be free to the public.
During the bidding process, the team conceived the idea of building the new bridge off to the side on temporary piers and then sliding it into place onto rehabilitated piers. The original bridge and the new bridge were used to maintain traffic and the costly ferry service was not needed.