The first Northeast Extreme Tee (NEXT) beam bridge project for New York State Department of Transportation was recently bid. The Queens Boulevard Bridge over the Van Wyck Expressway in Queens, N.Y. will expand the number of lanes on the bridge and bring it in line with geometric and operational improvements to the expressway.

The bridge, one of four being replaced along the expressway, will feature a two-span design incorporating 114 NEXT beams. It will support six lanes of vehicular traffic plus a turning lane, 2 sidewalks and four large plazas for pedestrian use. Hardesty & Hanover LLP Engineering in New York is the designer of the project.

The Queens Boulevard bridge will feature 10,000-psi NEXT beams with span lengths of 68 feet to 88 feet for the east and west spans. Beams in the east span will vary in length to avoid park encroachment along the east abutment. The cast-in-place deck slab, consisting of lightweight high-performance concrete, will be 8 inches thick and will be composite with the tee-beam section. The top flange will act as a form for the cast-in-place concrete deck.

The bridge will be replaced in staged construction, with the new alignment overlapping the existing, to maintain all lanes of traffic on the Van Wyck Expressway except for miscellaneous night-time lane closures.

The NEXT beam allows designers to specify precise beam dimensions that can produce site-specific bridge beams without significant added cost. It also is resistant to lateral buckling and creates an approximate 10% savings in dead load compared to a prestressed concrete box-beam configuration. Cost savings also provided in substructure material reductions due to decreased superstructure dead load. It creates a redundant system that ensures the load path is redistributed to adjacent tee beams if a beam section is damaged. It also offers an inherent allowance for utility bays due to its shape.