Quintana Beach Bridge Design

State Highway 332 is an important local highway, connecting inland industrial towns of Brazoria, Lake Jackson, and Clute with the port town of Surfside Beach. It also crosses the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, an essential inland waterway that is naturally protected from open sea travel hazards. As larger vessels travel the waterway more frequently, the original swing-span bridge became an increasingly apparent obstacle. The bridge was also a barrier to emergency evacuation of the residents living on the island across the inter-coastal canal during hurricanes that regularly hit the Texas Gulf Coast. To find a solution to these issues, the Texas DOT designed a replacement bridge to simultaneously address vehicular and navigation travel demands.

Working in conjunction with TxDOT and the contractor, Summit Engineering Group provided construction-engineering services to enhance the bridge construction. The bridge was successfully constructed within the project schedule, which greatly enhanced the movement of existing traffic. The new segmental bridge features a 350' main span and a total segmental concrete bridge length of 740'. The remaining 23-span bridge is made up of 142'-long Type VI Modified Prestressed Girders. All segments were single celled, varying in depth from 19' at the pier tables to 8' at the end segments or closure segment.