en.Wedoany.com Reported - New England Infrastructure Company (NEI) of Hudson, Massachusetts, utilized the MT Series material transporters developed by Bid-Well in the I-95 bridge deck replacement project in Medway, Maine, successfully completing the replacement of five bridges. The two largest bridges had deck lengths exceeding 1,000 feet, and the project required the underside of the deck to be visible, preventing the use of permanent formwork.
NEI Executive Project Manager Jared Barczak explained that for the northbound and southbound lanes of the Vaughan Daggett Memorial Bridge spanning the Penobscot River, the team chose to replace them using precast concrete panels. These panels had a strength of 5,000 psi, a thickness of 3.5 inches, and each weighed approximately 3,500 pounds. "We requested permission from the Maine Department of Transportation to use precast panels on the 341-foot-long State Route 157 crossing I-95, and the request has been approved," Barczak said.
During the northbound lane replacement, NEI faced the constraint of being unable to close the southbound lane to use a crane for placing precast panels from the middle of the bridge. Barczak stated, "We saw the costs of barges, cranes, and triple-handling the materials, and we said, 'There must be a better way.'" To this end, NEI collaborated with Bid-Well to develop the MT-1 material transporter, using a paver as a gantry crane to transport and place bridge panels. Bid-Well Design Engineer Averitt Johns explained, "The challenge was replacing the paving buggy with a device capable of placing panels and ensuring the paver's frame and leg system could bear the weight."
The MT-1 material transporter was configured with three adjacent material transport buggies and hooks, capable of moving up to three panels at once. "The MT-1 design allows moving up to three panels at once, compared to a crane placing one panel at a time, thus improving efficiency," said Bid-Well Sales Manager Mark Rhead. NEI's team used the material transporter to place 408 precast bridge panels on a bridge measuring 36 feet wide and 1,050 feet long, completing the work in approximately three weeks.
During the cast-in-place construction of the Amoskeag Bridge in Manchester, New Hampshire, NEI converted the MT-1 material transporter to the MT-2 configuration for rebar placement. The bridge required the installation of slightly over 100 tons of rebar. "With the material transporter, we spend about an hour a day moving a few bundles of rebar with two people, and that keeps the rebar workers busy for several days," said NEI Supervisor Steve Mullins. The MT-2 can lift and place rebar bundles weighing up to 6,000 pounds.
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