Bayou Lafourche Bridge is located on US-80 over Bayou Lafourche Diversion Canal. The bridge comprises seven equal spans, each 80 ft. in length, with a total bridge length of 560 ft. The two end spans on each side and the three intermediate spans are continuous. The bridge cross-section consists of six precast prestressed concrete (PPC) girders supporting full-depth precast concrete deck panels. The precast deck panels are post-tensioned along the span during construction to close the gaps between the panels and to achieve composite action between the deck and girders after pouring the shear pockets. This accelerated bridge construction (ABC) technique was implemented for the first time in Louisiana; therefore, a monitoring and instrumentation program was carried out to study the behavior of the bridge at different stages of construction as well as during service life. After completion and before opening to traffic, nine load tests were conducted using calibrated trucks. The load tests are a benchmark for future monitoring to evaluate the long-term performance of the bridge.
Instrumentation used included vibrating wire strain gages attached to the rebar of the deck and girders; vibrating wire strand meters clamped to prestressing strands of the girders; weldable strain gages attached to connection plates; load cells; and hydraulic jacks.
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