Sixth Avenue viaduct gets facelift
By Kevin Flynn 
| August 10, 2009 | 7:47 AM
Eastbound traffic exits the work zone on the Sixth Avenue Viaduct, where concrete deck repairs are to be completed this month. (Photo by Kevin Flynn)
Denver’s Sixth Avenue Viaduct got a facelift for its 50th birthday, and taxpayers got a lesson in cost-effectiveness.
It’s a lesson based on Ben Franklin’s maxim that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
Replacing support piers and bearings under the westbound bridge last year and rehabbing the concrete decking atop the eastbound structure this year for a total cost of $6 million will add 25 years to the useful life of the “twin” bridges.
Without it, Denver Public Works’ chief infrastructure engineer Jim Barwick estimated the aging structures eventually would have cost $30 million to replace.
“If we hadn’t done, this we would have had to replace it in 10 years,” Barwick said.
What that means is that, by incurring a cost that averages $240,000 for each year of life – or $400,000 a year for the 15 net new years of life it bought, Denver is saving drivers up to $260,000 a year by not having to replace the bridges.
While many bridges will have to be replaced at some future point, timely projects to upgrade and maintain them can extend that useful lifetime.
The two bridges are “fraternal” twins rather than identical. While they look similar from above, underneath they are two different structures. The westbound bridge uses single-column reinforced concrete support piers; the eastbound one uses steel-framed supports.
Read the full story at Kevin Flynn’s Inside Lane.
construction, inside lane, sixth avenue, transportation
