Cribbs Mill Creek Drainage Improvements - Phase 1
Forterra

Involved Companies

Background

The Cribbs Mill Creek project is part of a $4.6 million Brookhaven Drainage project that brought improvements to the drainage network near the Brookhaven neighborhood. The improvements were implemented to help protect the local community from a 100-year flood event.

Forterra was contacted by MAK Engineering in April 2017 to assist with the portion of the project that involved a bridge carrying a city street over a concrete flume that contained Cribbs Mill Creek. A shallow depth and no visible joints were important to the engineer and owner. Originally, the idea was to use skewed 34’-0” precast bridge deck units but after discussion, Forterra suggested the use of the F Style NEXT Tee Beam.

The NEXT Tee beam was cast in widths up to 11’-0” wide which greatly reduced the number of pieces required (8 NEXT Tees) verses a standard precast bridge deck (24 Units).

The project was let in May 2018 and Phase 1 of NEXT Tee Beams were delivered April 2019.

Bridge Info

• Length = 38’-3 ¾”

• Width = 82’-0 ½”

• 15 Deg. Skew

• 3 ea. NEXT Tees @ 10’-9 ½” wide x 36’-3 ¾” long (Phase I)

• 5 ea. NEXT Tees @ 9’-10 ½” wide x 36’-3 ¾” long (Phase II)

NEXT Tees were cast with a flat top. An 8” deck was cast on top of the Tees with a 2% slope for drainage.

The total cost for the NEXT Tee beams was comparable to  34’-0” precast deck units for this particular application.

Innovations/Accomplishments

• This is the first project in the state of Alabama to use the NEXT Tee beams

• Contractor and Engineer are both pleased with the ease of construction, safety and appearance..

• Finished structure provides a clean line profile, as well as a solid deck finish, without joint lines and possible future joint maintenance.