PA Turnpike To Replace Bridge In 55 Hours With 'Bridge Slide' Technique

LEHIGH COUNTY, PA (CBS) -- Later this month, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission will replace a bridge on the Northeast Extension using a new technique that will see the old bridge demolished and a new bridge in its place over the course of a single weekend.

You may have noticed that bridges are being replaced without months and years of cattle shoots and single lane traffic on highways.

It's a new approach called "Accelerated Bridge Construction," or ABC. And according to PennDOT, two Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission bridges later this month will be first to be replaced over a single weekend using an ABC technique called a "bridge slide."

"The bridge has actually already been built alongside the existing bridge," said Turnpike Spokeswoman Rosanne Placey. "The existing bridge is then removed during that 55 hour period and the new spans are slid into position."

A Turnpike bridge on the Northeast Extension in Lehigh County will get the 'bridge slide' treatment starting on the last Friday of this month. Motorists will be detoured for that 55 hour period.