Route 22/322 Bridge over I-81

When the Route 22/322 bridge over I-81 near Harrisburg was damaged on May 9, 2013, PennDOT needed the structure replaced, not repaired, and needed it back in service fast.

High Steel Structures was awarded the fabrication contract on May 23, two weeks after the incident, and High’s field operations group, the crew that became High Structural Erectors in 2013, took the subcontract to erect the steel. The crew set 30 I-girders and two box girders, 365 tons in all, beginning August 12 and finishing August 26, fourteen days of erection over a live interstate.

From notice to proceed through completed steel erection, the entire replacement took 95 calendar days.

Emergency work rewards contractors who can compress the front end of a project rather than just the field portion. Shop capacity, engineering, rigging plans and crews all had to move in parallel with a design that was still being finalized. Having the fabricator and the erector inside the same organization removed a set of handoffs that an emergency schedule cannot absorb.

G.A. & F.C. Wagman was the general contractor.