Southard Street Bridge Replacement, Trenton, NJ

The new Southard Street Bridge replaced a deteriorating 1920s-era viaduct and improved access and traffic flow to restore a critical intra-city transportation link. The bridge carries motorists and pedestrians over US Route 1 and Conrail tracks in the City of Trenton, NJ. Buchart Horn was the consulting and design engineer from initial planning and design studies through permitting, final scope development, and final design. We also provided traffic and electrical design, survey, mapping, geographic information system, environmental, and construction support services.

The new Southard Street Bridge was designed according to the new Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) specifications created by the American Association of Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). LRFD supersedes earlier design approaches and provides more uniform levels of structural safety, serviceability, and maintainability. The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) had just adopted LRFD as preliminary design began, making Southard Street one of the first bridges constructed under the new standard.

The replacement bridge is a continuous steel span 368-foot-long structure with 982 feet of approach roadways. Its superstructure consists of eight welded plate girders, parabolically haunched webs, and a composite concrete deck. Its substructure includes reinforced concrete abutments and piers, all founded on piles.