Des Plaines River Valley Bridge
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The design team of Janssen & Spaans and BB&A designed this major structure in the Illinois State Tollway's 12.5 mile southbound extension project, the 1.3 mile, 6 lane bridge over the Des Plaines River Valley.
Opened to the public in November 2007, the Des Plaines River Valley Bridge is first in the state of Illinois to use post-tensioned, precast, prestressed concrete bulb-T girders.
The main challenge was to design the bridge with minimal interference to the Des Plaines River, I&M Canal, Sanitary & Ship Canal, several railroad lines, and forest preserve land.
The bridge has a total of 34 piers and 35 spans (18 pretensioned, 17 post-tensioned). The tallest pier cap is 82 ft. above grade, and the bridge deck rises to 90 feet at the highest point, allowing the endangered Hine's Emerald Dragonfly to fly safely beneath the bridge, away from the flow of traffic.
The final design employed a combination of 102” post-tensioned spliced and 90” pretensioned Bulb-T beams, which allowed for post-tensioned span lengths of up to 270 feet, significantly longer than traditional beams would allow.