Murray Morgan Bridge Rehabilitation
City of Tacoma
Tacoma, Washington
Exeltech was a member of the design-build team for the federally funded rehabilitation and restoration of this historic, nearly 1,700-ft-long combination concrete girder and steel truss movable bridge structure spanning the Thea Foss Waterway and BNSF mainline. Project scope included repair/replacement of truss bottom chord, gusset plates, new steel stringers and bridge decks; steel floor beams at expansion joints; seismic retrofit details (including strengthening truss members and tower columns, adding longitudinal and transverse restrainers, column steel jacketing, and replacing expansion bearings with isolation bearings); and modernizing the bridge power distribution system.
Exeltech’s Bridges and Structures team was responsible for the structural inspection and rehabilitation design for nine spans plus the fill portion of the Port Approach. Civil and structural design included storm drainage and treatment design for the entire project, structural engineering of the pedestrian access steel stairway, design of BNSF railroad protection fences, signage and striping for the entire bridge, and the seismic analysis and design and load rating of the Port Approach.
The project was designed to meet the highest standards for stormwater runoff control and treatment due to its location on the highly industrialized Thea Foss Waterway and the potential for encountering contaminated soils or groundwater. Exeltech designed an aboveground wet vault and storm filter system to capture runoff from the City Approach and portions of the Center Truss Span. A bioswale was designed to capture, treat, and infiltrate runoff from the Port Approach. Innovative design work allowed capturing runoff from the movable lift span using a system of suspended troughs and catchment basins.
The project received Engineering News Record Northwest’s 2013 Best Highway/Bridge Project Award.