Initial and replacement riding surface for the orthotropic San Mateo/Hayward Bridge

Abstract

When opened in 1967, the San Mateo/Hayward Bridge crossing the San Francisco Bay south of San Francisco incorporated the United States' first major orthotropic steel bridge deck. The mile long orthotropic steel deck of the bridge was the largest in the world at the time. The orthotropic deck is included within a 2 mile long steel high rise portion of the 7 mile long bridge. Over 40 materials were evaluated for the riding surface of the original orthotropic deck. Epoxy asphalt was chosen and remained in place well past its life expectancy until it was finally replaced in 2015 by a polyester concrete material. The paper chronicles the factors leading to the selection of the material and construction of the initial and replacement riding surface. The replacement needed to be done on a critical bridge in service connecting the East-Bay Area communities to San Francisco. This made accelerated construction a factor in choosing a replacement and motivated evaluation of polyester concrete as a possibility.