Section 2: Evolution of the TxDOT Bridge Division
Anchor: #i999085Origin of the TxDOT Bridge Division
The Texas Highway Department was established in 1917 and is responsible to the Governor of Texas to design, construct, and maintain an adequate system of highways in the state. In 1918, a Bridge Office was created with the primary responsibility of preparing standard designs and drawings in an attempt to bring some uniformity to the bridges being constructed by the counties. The Bridge Division appeared in 1928, retaining bridge design as a big part of its mission.
The Bridge Division continued to maintain standards and design non-standard bridges. In time, advance planning, railroad negotiations, and plan review capabilities were developed. Construction management was provided for some of the more complicated structures.
Anchor: #i9991001940s and 1950s
Activities were curtailed during the war years, but in the late 1940s and 1950s increased demand for improved infrastructure produced a large volume of expressways, for which special design offices were established in the affected cities. Some of the groups adopted their own design and detailing standards.
When welding began to replace rivets for field splices in steel beams and girders in the early 1950s, the Bridge Division sent qualified welders to the larger projects to help with quality assurance and quality control.
In the middle 1950s the Bridge Division, with the cooperation of precast manufacturers, developed a group of standard pretensioned concrete beams, which quickly proved to be the most economical way to construct medium-span length bridges.
When the Interstate Highway System was inaugurated in the middle 1950s, the design workload increased dramatically and has remained generally good to date. Between the expressway offices, district design groups, and the Bridge Division, plan preparation was handled for several years with a minimum of help from consulting engineers.
Anchor: #i999125Recent Years
In the early 1980s, consulting engineers began to do a significant portion of the highway plans and a somewhat smaller portion of the bridge plans. After a period of reduced activity, consulting engineers are now preparing a significant portion of highway and bridge plans.
Meanwhile, the use of TxDOT “bridge standards” has become more uniform, as many district design groups have abandoned their own plan preparation activities. Currently, the Bridge Division continues to prepare its share of structure plans while attending to a growing number of non-engineering responsibilities.