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Results from load study show Hancock bridge performing at expected levels

by Geoff Fox

Cars travel across the US 522 Bridge that spans Main Street. This past October, the Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration conducted a load study on the entire length of the bridge. The findings showed the bridge is behaving as expected and within all allowable limits.

Back in October, the Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration did a load study on the US 522.

The Hancock News reached out to the MDOT SHA to find out what the results of the study found out about the bridge.

“Based on the current information that we attained from the tests that were conducted, the bridge is behaving as expected and within all allowable limits,” said Deputy Director for the SHA Charlie Gischlar.

Gischlar said sensors that measure stress, strain, and temperature were installed in August 2024 to make sure the member connections were not being exposed to high stresses.

The purpose of the load test was to have a truck with a known weight traveling at a known speed, traveling in a known lane to obtain accurate data regarding the bridge’ s response to the truck as it crossed the bridge.

The test, Gischlar said, used two 70,000-lb dump trucks under a series of traveling scenarios to get the evaluation data.

That data collected from the October 2024 test showed the bridge is behaving as MDOT SHA expected and within all allowable limits.

Right now, Gischlar said the SHA is in the permitting process that would enable a project to clean the truss member connections to essure they’ll have continued expected behavior and stresses within the allowable limits.

After the cleaning, there will be another Load Test to re-evaluate the bridge post-repair, he said.