Design of 10 Footbridges in New Highway "Express Pass of Cuernavaca", Mexico

The Cuernavaca city is located 80 KM, south of Mexico City. The highway Mexico-Acapulco pass through the Cuernavaca city, and traffic jams are very important, particularly during weekends and holydays. For that reason the Ministry of Transports of Mexico started a program to expand the highway from 4 to 10 circulation lanes in the 14.5 KM of the highway zone that crosses the city of Cuernavaca. In that context 10 footbridges, placed over the highway were demolished and replaced with new ones with spans from 37 to 47 m. The bridges are arch type in steel. This type of structure was selected for aesthetic and structural reasons. Due to the high flexibility of the bridges, the dynamic behavior under pedestrian loading was studied and modifications to the original design were made in order to avoid unacceptable vibrations. The bridges are also placed in a high seismic region, and time history calculations considering non-linear behavior of the concrete piers were made in order to evaluate the dynamic response of the bridges under strong earthquakes. This paper presents the main issues of the design process of the bridges, and some important results concerning the dynamic and seismic design of them.

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