Portsmouth Bypass – Ohio DOT

Project Description

The largest project in the history of Ohio, The Portsmouth Bypass, is a 16-mile long bypass of Portsmouth, Ohio via State Route 823/Southern Ohio Veterans Memorial Highway. In order to significantly reduce the project delivery time by as much as 17 years, the Ohio Department of Transportation chose to enter a Public Private Partnership with the bridge builder. The Ohio Dept. of Transportation signed a $429-Million contract with the Portsmouth Gateway Group, a consortium that includes Dragados USA Inc., Beaver Excavating Co., John R. Jurgensen Co., MS Consultants, ACD Infrastructure Development, Infrared Capital Partners Ltd., and Star America Fund GP. The Portsmouth Gateway Group chose R. J. Watson Disktron Bearings due to their superior performance and competitive price. Three of the steel plate girder bridges featured Disktron Bearings which ranged from 225 kips to 900 kips in vertical load capacity. The rotational capacity of these bearings was 0.025 radians and the displacements on the expansion bearings ranged from 3 to 6 inches. One of the bridges also required uplift restraint, which was easily accommodated with the Disktron design.