L.B. Foster Awarded $15 Million Steel Grid Deck and Railing Contract for Historic Peace Bridge

L.B. Foster Company was awarded a contract by American Bridge Company of Coraopolis, Pennsylvania for the fabrication of new steel grid bridge decking and traffic and pedestrian railings for the international Peace Bridge Rehabilitation Project.  L.B. Foster is providing 194,000 SF of deck panels and 17,400 LF of railing for the rehabilitation of the historic bridge that spans the Niagara River from Buffalo, New York to Fort Erie, Ontario. 

The existing rebar reinforced deck slab and bridge railing on the Peace Bridge is being replaced with L.B. Foster’s steel grid reinforced concrete deck panels and railing systems. The design specifies that the railing anchor bolts penetrate the new bridge decking, requiring the railing and deck panel installation to be coordinated.  L.B. Foster’s engineering department will be detailing both the grid deck panels and bridge railing to ensure critical component matchup during installation.  The grid material will be fabricated in L.B. Foster's plant in Bedford, PA.

L.B. Foster steel grid decking is engineered to exact specifications to expedite deck replacement and minimize traffic congestion during construction. “Our fabricated steel panels will be staged on both the Canadian and U.S. ends of the Peace Bridge.  The grid will reinforce the deck concrete to form a composite material that improves the span’s strength-to-weight ratio,” noted Chris Davis, General Manager, Sales and Marketing, L.B. Foster Fabricated Bridge Products. L.B. Foster’s lightweight 5” half-filled steel grid decking will strengthen the span’s structural integrity and increase its live load capacity.

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 railing, stay-in-place bridge deck forms and miscellaneous fabricated bridge components.