Abstract
The Corpus Christi Harbor Bridge carries US Route 181 over the Port of Corpus Christi, Texas, ship channel entrance. The topic of this paper is the five-span 1,788-ft truss portion of the bridge. It is a vital element of the Corpus Christi road system and provides the main link between the city of Corpus Christi and industry and recreation to the north. The six-lane bridge was opened to traffic in October 1959. A wider replacement bridge, with greater vertical clearance to accommodate modern maritime traffic and more desirable approach geometry, has been studied for several years, but the anticipated cost exceeds $700 million. Because of the cost, the Texas Department of Transportation (DOT) has elected to rehabilitate the existing bridge and gain another 20 years of service life for a projected cost of $20 million. Texas DOT chose to take a three-phase approach to the assessment and rehabilitation of the truss. The first phase was a detailed inspection and condition evaluation, the second phase included analyses and load ratings of the original and deteriorated conditions, and the third phase was to produce detailed plans, specifications, and estimates for the truss rehabilitation. All phases of work were conducted by HDR Engineering, Inc., during a 10-month period. This paper focuses on the fast-track schedule, the approach to managing voluminous amounts of analysis data, innovative repair methods conducted while maintaining vehicular and maritime traffic, and the way the plans and specifications were presented to generate solid competitive bids.