| 1) | Local Assessment – A Project Consultant in your area will evaluate your needs. |  |
| 2) | Design – State-of-the-art bridge design procedures utilize advantages of unique shapes. |  |
| 3) | Manufacturing – Steel and Aluminum Structural Plate are both fabricated at CONTECH’s plant in Winchester, KY. |  |
| 4) | Manufacturing – The individual plates are corrugated and punched to produce the bolt holes for assembly. Then, each plate is curved to meet the shape requirements of the selected structure. |  |
| 5) | Transportation – The plates are shipped on flat-bed trailers and ready for structure assembly at the jobsite. |  |
| 6) | Bedding – A stable bedding consists of well-graded granular material. The bedding can be pre-shaped with invert structures to ensure proper support in the pipe haunch areas. |  |
| 7) | Foundations – An unbalanced channel is cast into the strip foundations to receive the plate when constructing bottomless arch shapes. |  |
| 8) | Foundations – After the cast-in-place concrete cures, the plate assembly can begin. |  |
| 9) | Structure Assembly – The plates are bolted together in the field, typically with a few men on the crew and some small equipment. |  |
| 10) | Structure Assembly – Often, CONTECH provides a subcontract for the structure assembly from the most experienced and well-trained field technicians in the industry. |  |
| 11) | Structure Assembly – The light weight of Aluminum Structural Plate is desirable to pre-assemble structures and lift them into place in one piece. Time and cost savings benefits can be realized with this approach while ensuring the safety of the construction crews. |  |
| 12) | Backfill – A clean, well-graded granular type of backfill material conforming to AASHTO M-145 is placed symmetrically on each side of the structure in 6- to 8-inch lifts. Each lift is compacted to a minimum of 90 percent density per AASHTO T-99. |  |
| 13) | Backfill – Backfill and compaction continue up to the bottom of the location of the concrete thrust beam for SUPER-SPAN™ or long-span structures. |  |
| 14) | Thrust Beams – The thrust beams are formed and poured with cast-in-place concrete. The thrust beams act as longitudinal structural stiffeners for long-span structures during installation. |  |
| 15) | Thrust Beams – After the thrust beams are allowed to cure, backfill and compaction resume above the structure. |  |
| 16) | Backfill – The backfill is placed in radial lifts over the top of the structure with small equipment. |  |
| 17) | Backfill – The structural backfill and compaction process continues until minimum cover is achieved. |  |
| 18) | Shape Control Monitoring – CONTECH provides a Shape Control Technician to monitor the structure’s shape to ensure proper installation during the backfill and compaction process for all long-span structures. |  |
| 19) | End Treatment – There are many different end treatments that can be utilized for the headwalls and wingwalls such as CONTECH’s Keystone Modular Block Retaining Wall System (as shown here). |  |
| 20) | Finished Bridge – The finished bridge is economical, durable, quickly installed, and looks great. CONTECH’s steel and Aluminum Structural Plate meets or exceeds the National AASHTO and ASTM Specifications for material, installation, and design. |  |