Dec. 19, 2024

By Ryan LaFontaine

AUSTIN — The National Steel Bridge Alliance (NSBA) recently honored TxDOT as its inaugural recipient of the Owner of the Year award for the agency’s trailblazing efforts in bridge design and construction.

The award — the first of its kind — recognizes extraordinary bridges, and the builders, whose vision and dedication to the public keep America moving.

TxDOT was recognized for its years of research and decades spent developing best practices for achieving economical and easily constructed steel bridges. These solutions were implemented in the Brazos River Bridge project, which was included in a larger project on SH 105 across the Navasota and Brazos rivers and Coles Creek in Grimes, Brazos and Washington counties.

The Brazos River Bridge is a testament to TxDOT’s culture of innovation and continuous improvement. By integrating what’s known as lean-on bracing principles, TxDOT engineers were able to put research into practice, providing many long-term benefits.  

Some of the things TxDOT has done to develop best practices for steel bridges include:

• Investing in steel bridge research
• Developing a joint owner-industry forum called the Texas Steel Quality Council
• Publishing a document, Preferred Practices for Steel Bridge Design, Fabrication, and Erection, that provides guidance to help designers working on TxDOT projects to achieve optimal quality and value in steel bridges
• Developing steel bridge standards for steel rolled beams and steel plate girder bridges
• Developing an FHWA approved steel twin tub analysis methodology for redundancy

"TxDOT isn't just implementing best practices for designing and building steel bridges — it is defining how (a builder) can maximize the potential of steel," said NSBA Senior Director for Market Development Jeff Carlson. "Recent projects like the remarkably economical Brazos River Bridge demonstrate how TxDOT's longstanding investment in steel bridge research is paying dividends for Texans, today and tomorrow."

TxDOT has spent decades developing best practices for achieving economical and easily constructed steel bridges. 

“This was a complex project for many reasons,” said Jamie Farris, director of TxDOT’s Bridge Division. “One of the first issues we faced was finding a new location for the replacement bridge. Because of the Brazos River’s slope-failure region, the new bridge couldn’t be placed adjacent to the existing structure.”

Other challenges would continue to pop up: Would steel girders work better than concrete? How would the river’s continued migration westward factor into the plan?

“This project is a testament to TxDOT’s culture of innovation and continuous improvement,” Farris said. “It also highlights our ability to adapt in order to meet the structural needs of any project.”