Emergency Response for Spruce Street

On November 2, 2012, an over-height load struck every beam of the southern span of the Spruce Street Bridge over the ramp to the Central Scranton Expressway, rendering the bridge incapable of carrying vehicular traffic. All eight (8) beams in the cross section were impacted near mid-span exposing primary reinforcing (prestressing) steel. The first three (3) beams on the western half exhibited severe cracking that diminished their load carrying capacity. The bridge was closed to traffic, impacting 15,000 vehicles daily. As one of the main arteries in and out of downtown Scranton, project schedules were expedited to reduce congestion and economic impact on local businesses.

• In less than three (3) months, Dawood produced an approved structure plan, roadway plan and a traffic control plan, including a temporary signal plan.
• Increased vertical clearance by nearly 16″- the existing I-Beam span was replaced with Spread Box Beams to reduce the chances of another over-height strike in the future.
• A fast-tracked design of the southern span, Maintenance, and Protection of Traffic, including a detour with temporary traffic signal design at the Cedar Ave/Orchard St intersection and re-timing and re-phasing of the existing traffic signal at the Moosic St/Front St intersection.
• Traffic control allowed for the reduction of the nearby SR 11 Section 253 project, from seven (7) phases to three (3), eliminating many maintenances prone longitudinal joints in the deck and reducing the construction duration by nearly a year.