Pedestrian Bridge Inspection and Rehabilitation

The Houston Parks Board (HPB) is a nonprofit entity that is responsible for maintaining the hike and bike trails and bridges within Harris County. HPB asked CobbFendley to perform this work so that they can have an inventory of required rehabilitation needs to keep the trails operating in a safe manner. CobbFendley was then tasked to produce Plans, Specifications and Estimates package for the various structural rehabilitations required throughout their system.

CobbFendley performed the visual structural inspection of 44 pedestrian bridges maintained by the Houston Parks Board and performed 8 structural rehabilitations. Bridges consisted of prestressed concrete, steel and timber. Bridge inspection included providing structure ratings for the various components of the bridges: deck, superstructure, substructure and approaches; and producing biannual reports with bridge rankings and construction cost estimates for repairs. For bridges that had deficient ratings, CobbFendley’s structural team provided bridge rehabilitation PS&E packages, construction phase services, and construction inspection. Bridge rehabilitation consisted of steel repairs, timber repairs, adding helical pile to raise abutments that were settling and slope stability improvements using protection stone riprap. CobbFendley also performed forensic investigations for fire damaged bridges, coring timber beams and abutments.

This project allowed us to show our ability to identify a structural deficiency and harness our vast bridge rehabilitation experience to propose the best solution for the clients needs. Putting a bridge back in service that received substantial fire damage was a challenge that we overcame. Funding was not available to replace the fire damaged bridge, which required selective demolition and replacement the abutment, replacement of timber piles with steel piles and strengthening of beams and piles.

CobbFendley was able to harness their bridge inspection and rehabilitation experience to provide the client a structural inventory of their structures and rehabilitation plans. This allowed the client to keep their facilities in good operating conditions until their structures can be replaced in the future, extending the life of their facilities.