Location: WSP Office (1 Penn Plaza)
Date and Time: Thursday, May 06 - 7:00PM
Speaker: Rajat Jain, P.E.
Abstract: The Winter Road Bridges Project, developed by Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation (MTI), tackles the seasonal access challenges in northern Manitoba, Canada. These single-span bridges, featuring timber decks and steel girders supported on crib abutments, are designed for use exclusively during the winter months when snow roads provide the only access to remote areas. Although classified as "temporary," these bridges are intended to remain in service for over five years, presenting a challenge in balancing the economic feasibility of temporary bridges and design code compliance for permanent bridges.
This presentation will explore the justification for applying reduced load factors and how these considerations align with the specific, limited traffic and permit-based use of the bridges. Additionally, it will address wind loading considerations for the bridges, given the absence of wind maps for the Manitoba region in the AASHTO guidelines. Discussions on seismic compliance and special provisions for snow loading will also be highlighted.
Lastly, the presentation will emphasize key differences between AASHTO and Canadian CSA codes for bridge design, focusing on how MTI adapted the design standards for this project. Furthermore, it will discuss the development of a design manual for MTI, which provides an agnostic design for bridges—a bridge schedule by span length. The manual offers different deck and girder dimensions for various spans and recommends abutment designs to accommodate different loading and ground conditions for various spans and locations.
