America Farm Bridge Strengthening

America Farm bridge was an existing 15m span steel and concrete composite bridge carrying a farm track over the Black Dyke in Lincolnshire. The bridge is used by the Environment Agency for access to maintain flood defences and watercourses under their control. An assessment commissioned by EA indicated that both the steel beams and the transversely spanning deck slab had insufficient capacity. On behalf of JBA Bentley JV, Stirling Maynard designed a strengthening scheme comprising steel flange plates welded to the bottom flange of the steel beams, and Carbon Fibre Reinforced Plates bonded to the soffit of the deck slab to ensure the deck slab had sufficient transverse bending strength. Maintenance painting of the steelwork, along with localised concrete repairs to the deck slab and substructure were also designed and executed as part of the scheme.