Throughout the United States, highway bridges must be regularly inspected, repaired, and maintained. This is, for many state DOTs and contractors, a veritable full-time task.

As is well-known in the industry, the U.S. has more than 600,000 highway bridges and, of these, almost half of them are 50 years old or more. Highway bridges are exposed to environmental and traffic loading conditions over time that lead to a natural deterioration of the bridge’s structural condition.

Typically speaking, bridge maintenance falls into two categories: Preventive Bridge Maintenance, which is a planned approach to maintaining bridges, and acute bridge repair.

Preventive Bridge Maintenance projects are more proactive rather than responsive and they are often far more cost-effective over time. Preventative bridge maintenance tasks are often quite comprehensive and cover entire bridge structures and their components to prevent deterioration, and to sustain or improve their current condition.

These tasks include:

• Bridge Washing and/or Bridge Cleaning
• Removing Channel Debris
• Facilitating Drainage
• Sealing Deck Joints
• Sealing Concrete

Whether a crew is performing regular maintenance or bridge repair, or carrying out bridge washing and cleaning work, they often require the ability to access the overhead superstructure of a highway bridge to reach trusses, caps, and beams, or under a bridge deck.

What is often required is specialized bridge access equipment to allow crews to reach these areas. Typically, one bridge access vehicle will not provide convenient access to every bridge that needs to be worked on. Which is why a reliable source is needed to provide a variety of bridge inspection and maintenance equipment. And that is why bridge maintenance professionals rely on McClain & Co., Inc.

When it comes to highway construction and bridge maintenance projects, visibility is crucial. And this is true for highway or parking lot signs or lighting, and for providing visible directional elements and sufficient lighting before and after daylight hours.

One of the priorities for the Federal Highway Administration is ensuring that contractors working with highway signage and highway maintenance workers understand the importance of proper signage. Professional highway construction contractors and personnel are acutely aware that well-maintained signs are essential to ensure that drivers make the right decisions.

This means that the signs must not only be used correctly, but they must be clean and in excellent condition to command the attention of drivers. At McClain and Company, we maintain our highway signage so that you can consistently depend on them.

Light poles and light towers are essential, as well, to provide sufficient roadway lighting in and around highway construction work. Along with visible and appropriate highway signage, temporary lighting is critical for worker and driver safety.

In addition, providing permanent roadway lighting is another service McClain offers to help increase visibility for drivers and other roadway users. Providing sufficient lighting means giving drivers the visibility needed to see roadway conditions and it creates a safer roadway environment.

Construction projects involving roadways and parking lots, for example, can benefit from properly designed roadway lighting.

Highway construction and bridge maintenance projects often require Maintenance of Traffic (MOT), or temporary traffic control services, which may include the installation and management of either temporary or long term traffic control plans or closures.

For most projects, TTC, or “temporary traffic control” measures are required.

Simply put, this means that TTC planning provides for continuity of motor vehicle movement when the normal access of a roadway, or a private road open to public travel, is suspended or restricted. This can apply not only to motor vehicle traffic, but to bicycles, pedestrian traffic, transit operations, and even access to property or utilities.

Consequently, the use of devices and equipment to establish temporary single lane closures, temporary shoulder closures, and temporary lane shifts is needed. The primary function of TTC is to provide for the reasonably safe and effective movement of road users through or around TTC zones while reasonably protecting road users, workers, responders to traffic incidents, and equipment.

These requirements can include temporary single lane closures, temporary shoulder closures, and temporary lane shifts. At McClain & Co., Inc., we provide our services for the installation and management of any Temporary or Long Term traffic control plan/closure.

Bridge, Highway, and MOT Construction Services from McClain and Company

Along with our construction equipment rental services, our experienced staff can assist with equipment selection and finding the best construction equipment solutions as well.

We are proud to be an integral part of the nation-wide effort to revitalize and maintain the highway and railway infrastructure of the United States. And we are happy to offer our extensive bridge, highway, and MOT construction services to our clients.

In addition, our goals at McClain and Company include keeping your employees safe, maintaining safe roadways, and providing a work zone that is compliant with Federal and States guidelines.

These are just some of the many ways McClain helps make your bridge and highway construction projects easier.