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In the last few years, UDOT replaced 15 bridges on I-80 with a moving technique it pioneered. But, a bridge move this weekend takes innovation to a sudsy new level.
In the past, UDOT raided the toolbox for innovation. This time, UDOT raids the kitchen. Teflon and dish soap are the real secret to this move.
"As we slide the bridge, we're going to put the soap down, push it across, and everything should slip right into place," says the UDOT engineer on the project, Tony Lau.
It's hard to find time to move a bridge, when more than 22,000 cars drive over it every day. That's the daily volume of eastbound traffic on the I-80 bridge at Parleys Summit.
So, UDOT started to build the new bridges beside the old ones, and move them into place at night on the weekends.
"This technique is actually really good for saving time and money," says Lau.
Right now, crews are preparing the bridge at the summit for an even more unusual move.
"You can imagine a two-and-a-half million pound bridge is pretty hard to push all on its own," the engineer points out. So, they'll give it a little lubrication.
Bridge crews slide large pieces of track under the bridge. They set pads, the size of a square foot, in the middle of the track. Then they squirt dish soap on the pads and put the track under the bridge while it's lifted.
"Normal, everyday, Dawn dish soap to reduce the friction and make it nice and slippery," says Lau. Early Sunday morning, they'll push the new bridge into place using hydraulics.
Traditional bridge building would mean shifting traffic for months, and many long delays and closures.
With the Teflon and soap technique: they'll demolish the old bridge and slide in the new one with only a 14-hour shutdown from 10 p.m. Saturday until noon Sunday.
"Most people won't even know that we've closed the freeway at all," the engineer says. Saturday night, traffic will move through the area, but with long delays. So, UDOT recommends you avoid it.
With all that soap, after the next rain storm, the road below will be squeaky clean.
