BALCH SPRINGS, Texas — Motorists traveling northbound and southbound Interstate Highway 635 over the next four days should expect major delays as crews work to complete an innovative, Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC) method to replace a 50-year-old bridge spanning Seagoville Road.
BALCH SPRINGS, Texas — Motorists traveling northbound and southbound Interstate Highway 635 over the next four days should expect major delays as crews work to complete an innovative, Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC) method to replace a 50-year-old bridge spanning Seagoville Road.
The project to replace both the northbound and southbound IH-635 bridges over Seagoville Road represents the first time, in Texas, crews have used the ABC method — cutting what would have been a months' long project into a four-day endeavor.
Beginning Friday, August 28, 2020, at 9 p.m., crews will shutdown all southbound lanes of IH 635 at Seagoville Road. Southbound traffic will be diverted off the highway, onto the service road, and back onto the highway just beyond the bridge construction. The lanes are expected to reopen by 5 a.m. on Monday. One, possibly two, lanes of northbound traffic is also expected to be closed during this process.
Last weekend, crews undertook the first phase of the project on the northbound lanes, successfully completed their construction to replace the bridge, and reopened all northbound lanes Monday morning.
"The ABC technique uses innovative planning, design, materials and construction methods to rapidly replace the 50-year-old bridge to minimally disrupt traffic," read a statement from TxDOT.
"TxDOT chose the ABC approach due to high traffic volumes on one of the busiest highways in North Texas and the lack of detour options," stated TxDOT. "The project sits in the area near where I-635, I-20 and US 175 converge. An estimated 142,000 to 154,000 drivers traverse the busy roadway each day, and 11 percent of those vehicles are large trucks. Extensive, ongoing traffic backups would likely occur as part of a typical bridge reconstruction project, which would take months to complete."
During the construction process, four excavators with hammers will demolish the bridge. Two 550-ton cranes from Houston and Colorado will be standing by to remove the old bridge spans and column caps. Then, one crane will lift prefabricated bridge spans, from a nearby fabrication staging area off Hickory Tree Road, onto a transport truck to the bridge site. The second crane will lift the prefabricated bridge spans into place. Crews will then finalize the construction by pouring concrete with special fibers to ensure strength.
