Rebuilding the Alexander Hamilton Bridge – The Future of Bridge Construction

The Alexander Hamilton Bridge carries the Cross Bronx Expressway, a section of Interstate Route 1–95, over the Harlem River in the middle of New York City, as well as serving as the intersection with Interstate Route 1–87. The deck is in bad condition and requires total replacement. Significant deterioration of the structure, and structural vulnerability due to lack of redundancy, needed to be addressed. The major concern was how to rehabilitate the bridge, and keep 188,000 vehicles per day moving with the minimum of disruption. The paper describes the development of the proposed rehabilitation solution for the mainline bridge, which will accommodate the mandated requirement of maintaining all existing lanes during peak hours and also provide for meeting FHWA standards for shoulders on the bridge. The solution included replacement of two bridges that span over the Cross Bronx Expressway, with piers located in the median of the highway. In order to permit the MPT on the AHB, these bridges had to be replaced in order to eliminate these piers.

• Abstract

• Introduction

• Bridge Structures

• Rehabilitation Requirements

• Rehabilitation Scheme

• Summary