ABSTRACT
Slab bridges are under-used principally because of the lack of refi nement of the preliminary costings carried out by most contractors’ estimators. The unit costs of formwork, concrete, reinforcement and prestress tendons should clearly be lower for a solid slab deck than for more complex cross sections such as voided slab or box girder decks. However, in the early stages of a project, when options are being compared, this is frequently overlooked. Contractors who have experience of building prestressed concrete solid slabs and who have evidence for the low costs and for the reliability and speed of the construction process, tend to use such structures more readily.
