Bridge Name: Fairmont Avenue Bridge Location: Glendale, California Description: This project, State Route 134/San Fernando Road Access and Safety Access and Safety Improvement Program, was a co-operative effort between the City of Glendale and CALTRANS. The project features include (1) Extending the Fairmont Ave, westerly across San Fernando Road, the SCRRA railroad and Verdugo Wash to join the southerly extension of Flower Street (2) Widening the westbound on and off ramps and eastbound on-ramp of the State Route 134/San Fernando Interchange and (3) Construction of a “stub-out” for the future connection of the Doran Street to Fairmont Avenue bridge. The proposed Fairmont Avenue Bridge will provide four lanes of traffic and a future bikeway/pedestrian walkway across the Verdugo wash. The site has liquefiable soils and is located near several active and potentially active faults. The seismic loading was based on a site-specific ARS curve based on a peak rock acceleration of 0.6g. Numerous utilities exist at the site. The Fairmont Avenue Bridge consists of a main bridge and an entrance ramp. Furthermore, the main bridge is made of two separate structures. An expansion joint separates the two main bridge structures and the ramp. In order to comply with the LAMTA requirements of avoiding a hinge above the RR track an expansion joint was introduced at the Fairmont Avenue entrance ramp. The joint eliminates the LAMTA’s concerns for hinge unseating over the tracks in a seismic event. The superstructures of all the three structures are Cast-in Place Prestressed box girders. The main bridge is a 365 m long 10 span bridge supported on multi-column large diameter CIDH pile shafts and seat type abutments. The entrance ramp structure is a 128 m long 4 span bridge supported on a seat type abutment and single CIDH pile shafts. The horizontal geometry is complex consisting of two separate curves with radii of 132m and 400 m and a tangent portion. The vertical variations in the main bridge profile are significant since it begins at grade and ascends above the Verdugo Wash, the San Fernando Road and SCRAA Rail Road tracks under the LAMTA jurisdiction. The main bridge has a hinge in span 3. The first five spans of the main bridge has a variable width which transitions to two separate four span structures, one the extension of the main bridge and second the entrance ramp. The span lengths vary between 22 m and 51m. The column heights vary between 9.7 m and 19.8 m. For the main bridge, bents 2-5 are supported on Type I CIDH pile shafts and bents 6-9 supported on Type II CIDH pile shafts. As a result, each bent is unique. The bridge was designed in accordance with Caltrans standards and SDC Version 1.2. Special isolation casings were provided at select bent to ensure that the short column bents met the high seismic displacement demands. SCOPE: Independent check of final PS&E. Cost: $14 million (Approx.) Owner: City of Glendale References: Mr. David Anderson, P.E. URS Corporation 633 Broadway, Room 300 Glendale, CA 91206 End Date: January 2004

Project Categories Bridge Design Seismic Bridge Design Bridge Construction NBIS Bridge Inspection Bridge Design Experience Bridge Construction Experience