Project Description

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The I59/20 CBD carries heavily traveled Interstate 59 and Interstate 20 through downtown Birmingham. The new bridges replace existing steel plate girder bridges built in the early 1970s. The new bridges carry up to five travel lanes and shoulders in both the eastbound and westbound direction. Alignments of the new bridges follow the existing alignments, with construction progressing with bridge demolition.

Separate eastbound and westbound structures, each with a length of approximately 6,500 ft, carry mainline traffic. Each of these bridges is comprised of two precast box girders joined by a longitudinal closure joint. The combined widths vary from 70’ to 94’. Span lengths vary from 110’ to 165’ and were constructed by the span-by-span method with external post-tensioning tendons. These mainline bridges, along with two segmental ramp structures, total 1 million square feet of elevated bridge deck.

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Corven Engineering created the final design of the precast segmental superstructure.

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The Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) awarded the contract for the third and final phase of the bridge replacement project for Interstate 59/20 (I-59/20) in Birmingham to Johnson Bros. Corp. The company bid $474.7 million.

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Aspire Bridge Magazine Article: Alabama's Largest Transportation Project Renews Birmingham's Central Business District

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Aspire Bridge Magazine Article: Time-Saving Construction Techniques - I-59 / I-20 Bridge Reconstruction

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Awards

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American Segmental Bridge Institute (ASBI) 2021 Bridge Award of Excellence