Institute for Transportation

The concept of prestressed laminated wood decks was conceived in Ontario in 1976 as a method of upgrading existing deteriorated nailed laminated wood decks. The success of the system as a method of rehabilitation prompted considerable research and development aimed at introducing it into new construction. This led to the formation of a comprehensive set of design specifications which have since been adapted into the Ontario Highway Bridge Design Code and were included into the 1983 edition.
Since its inception in 1976, the prestressed wood concept has been used many times, and by 1985, a total of at least 16 bridges used the concept in various ways. The objective of this paper is to discuss a number of these field structures in order to demonstrate the flexibility of the prestressed wood deck system. In new construction, the system has been applied to both longitudinally and transversely laminated decks including both on-site deck assembly as well as pre-assembled deck panel system.
The paper summarized the applicability of the system, construction sequence, and field problems. In addition, a discussion is provided concerning construction costs for some of the applications as derived from the field structures.