Salmon River steel-free bridge deck – 10 years review of field performance

ABSTRACT: An innovative concrete bridge deck design for slab on girder bridges was developed in Canada based on research dating back to the 1980s. The design philosophy enabled the concrete deck slab to be constructed entirely devoid of internal reinforcement. The rationale was to eliminate the principal source of deterioration in concrete bridge decks in North America, corrosion of steel reinforcement. This corrosion and the subsequent concrete deterioration is responsible for dramatically increased maintenance costs and reduced service life. The ‘steel-free’ deck construction promises to be more durable than traditional steel-reinforced concrete decks and appears to be able to meet the 100 year design life requirement recently adopted by the Canadian Highway Bridge Design Code.