The Utah Dept. of Transportation’s one-year-old Beaver Creek Bridge is located between the cities of Spanish Fork and Price. The scenic U.S. 6 mountain pass is “notorious for wildlife hits,” says UDOT Structural Designer Rebecca Nix. “The new bridge is an effort to reduce those accidents,” by providing a generous space under the bridge for wildlife to cross in addition to a creek crossing. Many safety projects, such as road widening, bridge replacement and other new crossings, have been completed on U.S. 6 in the last several years.
Besides improving safety, the bridge is also serving as a testing ground for new reinforcing material that could extend the life of concrete decks. Beaver Creek’s concrete deck panels use glass-fiber-reinforced polymer, or GFRP, bars instead of traditional steel rebar.