PITTSBURGH, PA Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, -based L.B. Foster Company has been awarded a $4.5 million contract to provide 171,000 square feet of steel grid decking to general contractor Joseph B. Fay Company for the rehabilitation of Pittsburgh's Liberty Bridge. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and their engineering consultant, HDR, Inc., specified steel grid reinforced concrete deck panels for the Monongahela River Bridge because the product's strength-to-weight ratio and modular nature addressed key project objectives.

The new fabricated steel material will be manufactured at the nearby L.B. Foster bridge products facility in Bedford, Pennsylvania, with shipments beginning to the jobsite in March 2016. L.B. Foster's custom engineered panels will be produced to exacting specifications to expedite installation and minimize traffic disruption on the critical downtown Pittsburgh span. Concrete will be poured into the steel decking to produce a structurally efficient grid system that increases span capacity and minimizes deck weight.

"Steel grid decking streamlines installation, promotes long-term performance and lowers life cycle costs over alternate bridge deck designs," said Chris Davis, L.B. Foster Fabricated Bridge Products Sales Manager.  

L.B. Foster's AISC-certified Bedford plant maintains the largest production capacity in the industry for the manufacturing of this innovative deck material. The Pennsylvania facility also produces bridge railings, stay-in-place bridge deck forms and miscellaneous fabricated bridge components.