New design economical for many bridge spans

The Alternate Load Factor Design (ALFD) was tested at the Federal Highway Administration's Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Laboratory. The main objective of the testing was to confirm previous analytical and empirical studies that show the ability of continuous steel plate-girder bridge members to adjust automatically for controlled local yielding under overloads. A guide specification has been issued for ALFD for the design of steel bridges using braced compact sections. The guide specification allows for the economical design of steel bridges with spans up to about 125 ft. This test program contributes to the development of specifications that will allow the more economical design of non-compact plate-girder bridges with spans up to the 300-ft. range.