Engineering Design, Fabrication, and Erection of Prefabricated Bridge Elements and Systems

This manual has been developed for the purposes of enhancing the use of Prefabricated Bridge Elements and Systems (PBES) as part of accelerated construction projects. FHWA continues to focus on a need to create awareness, inform, educate, train, assist and entice State DOT's and their staff in the use of rapid construction techniques. This manual is a follow-up of a previously completed manual on Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC). The purpose of this manual is to provide more in-depth information on the design, fabrication and erection of PBES. Significant portions of the previous ABC manual will be reproduced in this manual in order to provide a stand-alone document with minimal cross references.Users of this manual will be able to perform the following tasks: - Understand the different materials used in the construction of prefabricated bridge elements and systems.- Understand the design requirements for the most common PBES technologies in use today.- Understand how to design for durability using PBES.- Understand how to specify PBES and design them for shipping and erection.