| Abstract: | The growth of freight transportation within the United States and across borders is tremendous, and it is expected to double over the next decade. The congestion due to increasing pressure of the freight, mainly transported by truck, is affecting the safety and serviceability of the existing transportation system. The proposed Multimodal Freight Shuttle (MFS) system offers a cost-effective and environmentally friendly method to transport containerized, intercity or port-to-terminal freight, and it alleviates the problem of severe deterioration of the outgrown capacity of existing highways. The Multimodal Freight Shuttle (MFS) system requires a continuous elevated guideway to be constructed for the freight shuttle. This research investigates the viability of a continuous precast bridge system for the freight shuttle. A number of design alternatives for the various bridge components are provided, and the merits of the different types are assessed from design, construction, in-service performance and life-cycle cost points-of-view. Based on the comparative designs, it was found that a bridge system built of fully precast components is the most promising. This included a combination of precast prestressed concrete trough-girders, with a modular precast concrete sub-structure. Due to the significant length of the proposed structural system, the construction sequence is important so that the progress can be made to enable the work force to advance by one span per day. Thus, the steps for construction of the bridge have been schematically presented and sequentially explained. The electronic version of this dissertation is accessible from http://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/150929 |
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