LONG-TERM PERFORMANCE OF EPOXY FILLED STEEL GRATE DECKING: Civil and Environmental Engineering (bridge repair and maintenance)

In the Florida State highway system there are 11,100 bridges (6,300 State bridges and 4,800 local bridges). The highway system includes 98 movable bridges, which are located within seven geographic districts. These bridge decks are constructed with steel open metal grate decking to reduce the weight of the superstructure and load carried by the substructure. When traffic traverses on the bridge deck systems, a significant level of noise is generated. This noise has caused some discomfort and has become a nuisance to the public, especially in regard to those bridges located near populated areas. Because of the problem, it has been suggested that filling the open grate with epoxy and fine aggregate broadcasted on it will increase the friction resistance and reduce the noise from bridge deck systems. For new bridges, concrete filling (exodermic deck) has been used, taking the extra weight from the concrete into consideration during the design stage. For the older bridges, however, the extra concrete weight was not considered in the design stage.