On June 2, 2014, the Delaware Department of Transportation closed a bridge on I–495 that was leaning and out of plumb.
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How Could a Pile of Dirt Cause a Major Interstate Bridge To Tilt?

On June 2, 2014, the Delaware Department of Transportation closed a bridge on I–495 that was leaning and out of plumb.[Editor] The Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) had a major problem on their hands after a bridge on I-495 was leaning…one side of the bridge was 18 inches higher than the other.  The culprit?  A pile of fill adjacent to the bridge was loading soft soils beneath.  So what do you do about it?  In this contributed article by Dennis M. O’Shea, bridge engineer in the FHWA Delaware Division Office, he describes the problems faced by DelDOT, the causes, and how they fixed it.  The article originally appeared in Public Roads Magazine, and is republished here with permission. [/Editor]

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