Louisville Waterfront Park Phase III, Big Four Pedestrian Ramp

The Big Four Pedestrian Ramp is a 693 foot long twin steel box girder bridge and circular landing platform. It will serve as an access ramp to the existing Big Four railroad bridge which is slated to become a pedestrian crossing connecting Louisville to Southern Indiana.

Through a Value Engineering redesign, FINLEY was able reduce the costs relating to materials, fabrication, and construction for the Client by approximately $1 million.

The redesigned ramp structure incorporated a constant girder cross section, reduced deck thickness, and new integral pier connections, all of which help to reduce fabrication and erection costs. Erection and fabrication of the girders has been simplified and extreme thermal effects have been mitigated by converting the ramp from a single continuous structure into three two-span continuous units. In addition, a difficult weathering steel cladding solution for the pier columns was replaced with a weathering steel casing to be used as stay in place formwork.

An innovative ring shaped steel box girder was engineered for the landing platform which eliminated a much more complex framing system. This redesigned girder offers an efficient system for supporting the circular shaped platform while providing a consistent exterior surface to serve the aesthetic needs of the Owner.