The Ringling Causeway Bridge is a replacement structure for an existing two-lane bascule bridge over the Ringling Causeway located in Sarasota, Florida. This high-level, long-span bridge is a vital crossing over the beautiful Sarasota Bay that connects local residents to Bird Key and is the main hurricane evacuation route for these barrier island residents.
The project included the construction of new parks and the reconstruction of the coastal protection system; and also included extensive utility, signalization, lighting, and the demolition of the existing bascule bridge structure.
This segmental box girder, high-level, long span bridge replaced the existing low-level Bascule Bridge that had become structurally deficient. The Bridge is a vital crossing over the beautiful Sarasota Bay and is the main hurricane evacuation route for the barrier island residents. Construction of this 3,100-foot, multilane, precast segmental bridge was accomplished by employing accelerated bridge construction (ABC) methods such as balanced cantilever. The project included the construction of new parks and the reconstruction of the coastal protection system, and also included extensive utility, signalization, lighting, and the demolition of the existing bascule bridge structure. At over 106 ft in width, the Ringling Causeway Bridge set a new record at the time of completion as the World’s widest segmental concrete bridge.
The bridge structure consist of a multi-cell post tensioned concrete box girder with spans of about 184 feet to about 300 feet, supported by reinforced concrete piers and footings on drilled shafts. The superstructure erection was created by a balanced cantilever method with precast segments; pier segments and closures were cast in place. Two precast half-segments were used over the width of the single three-cell girder. The final girder section is symmetrical about its mid-width, but the individual half-segments are not.
