Crawford County, Kansas

FRP Composite Bridge Decks

The Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) installed two FRP composite bridge decks on Kansas State Highway 126 just west of Pittsburg, Kansas. Manufactured by Kansas Structural Composites Inc., each 45 feet long and 32 feet wide deck meets AASHTO HS-25 criteria. The bridge decks were delivered with a sloping surface to shed water and a polymer concrete wear surface. The first bridge deck was installed on October 27, 1999 and the second was installed on November 3rd. The old bridge decks were deteriorating and the bridges needed to be widened. The old deck was removed and, since the steel I-beams were in good shape, they were just sandblasted and repainted. Since the old concrete deck and asphalt wear surface was considerably thicker than the new FRP composite decking, KSCI developed a system of saddles that were placed on the beams to raise the decking to the road level. Each deck piece was bolted onto the saddles and I-beams in such a manner that they can be removed should a larger bridge be needed in the future. Thus, the FRP decking can be reused in another location. This recyclable capability is another advantage of the FRP decking.

Click on each photo to see the full sized image.
Two bridges west of Pittsburg, Kansas were widened and had their old concrete deck and asphalt wear surface replaced with an FRP composite deck. Since the new deck was considerably thinner than the old one, composite "saddles" were used to raise the new deck to the road height.
The new FRP composite bridge was manufactured by Kansas Structural Composites, Inc of Russell, Kansas with a slope to drain off water and a polymer composite wear surface.
The FRP deck was delivered to the site on a flatbed truck. The deck panels were made with a tongue-in-grove design that made installation quick and easy.
During the installation of the second bridge, many engineering student from Pittsburg State University came out to the site to get a first hand look at the new technology.