What is a Modular Steel Bridge?
Well, different folks might define a modular steel bridge a little different than we do. It doesn’t make us right and them wrong; however, here is our general definition of the Product without particular order to the items.
“Modular” Steel Bridge – “Modular” in Roscoe Bridge language means that the bridge is pre-engineered (a family of bridges that graduate at 5-foot increments of length at each load rating) in a series of simple, bolt-together sections (i.e. modules) that can be installed at your bridge site with low-cost, low-skilled contractor labor. We don’t mean this to be demeaning to any contractors! We all know that there are contractors that are highly skilled at erecting high-rise buildings, and their rates correspond to their skill level. However, that same contractor may not be able to level the dirt at a bridge site, which takes a totally different skill set, that of a road-builder and excavator. A typical road-builder and excavating contractor can easily bolt together two halves of a Roscoe Bridge on a set of SuperSill™ abutments and have you driving across it in a day.
By following our simple installation instructions, a Roscoe “Modular” Bridge is a painless installation experience.
Typical 2, 3, and 4 module bridges are illustrated in the following CAD drawings. Each Roscoe Trail Bridge, Pedestrian Bridge and Golf Course Bridge incorporates the same concepts of simple bolt-together, modular construction that requires No Field Welding.
Modular “Steel” Bridge – The “steel” in modular steel bridge is very significant. We all cross over concrete highway bridges almost every day of our lives without fear; therefore, this isn’t an exercise in trying to rip the credibility of concrete bridges. They are fine, dependable, ENORMOUSLY HEAVY, and not so attractive! It’s the “heavy” and “not so attractive” that makes them very impractical for private owners to incorporate them into home, ranch, resort, and development applications.
Did you know that it is steel that gives a “concrete” bridge its primary strength in resisting bending? Have you ever felt a concrete bridge bouncing when you are stopped on top of it and another car or heavy truck goes by? It’s the steel that is formed inside the concrete (rebar, beam and pre-stressed cables) that prevents the bridge from falling down of its own weight, yet again with the weight of the passing vehicle. So why is concrete such a popular bridge material? Primarily because in highway applications where heavy traffic, both in volume and weight, is carried on the road and bridge, concrete is used to prevent the road surface from breaking down and wearing away in short order. Therefore, since the road surface is concrete, there is logic behind incorporating concrete in the bridge beam structures to utilize the high value of concrete in compression strength. But this comes at a huge price in the installation. We have all seen the requirement for 200 and 300-ton cranes in the installation of highway bridges.
However, in private ownership applications like resorts and developments that don’t have the traffic of Interstate 10 or I-95 running on them, the strength and light weight of steel is the value-based bridge material. The bridge can be fabricated in the shop in modules where the quality control can be maintained to rigid standards at minimum cost, and the bridge can be installed with excavators and low-cost, smaller cranes. Did you know that a typical Bulb-T concrete bridge beam can weigh over 180,000 pounds? And a typical concrete bridge might require many of them? A 50-foot long modular steel bridge can be transported on one tractor-trailer and weight less than 50,000 pounds for the same load rating. Can you believe it? Trust us, we prove it every week.
And last but not least, did you know that steel is the most recycled building material in the world? In North America, over 75% of the steel being fabricated is recycled.
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