PROPOSED ONTARIO BRIDGE DESIGN LOAD

THE CURRENT SPECIFICATIONS FOR HIGHWAY BRIDGE DESIGN LOADS ARE REVIEWED IN RELATION TO THE HEAVY VEHICLES NOW PERMITTED BY THE ONTARIO BRIDGE FORMULA. THE REPORT CONTAINS A PROPOSAL FOR A NEW BRIDGE DESIGN LOAD WHICH IS IN KEEPING WITH OBF VEHICLE WEIGHTS AND WHICH IS TO BE APPLIED IN CONJUNCTION WITH A LOAD FACTOR DESIGN METHOD AND A NEW APPROACH TO DEFLECTION CONTROL, VIBRATION AND IMPACT. THE PROPOSED ONTARIO BRIDGE DESIGN LOAD CONSISTS OF A CONCENTRATED AND UNIFORMLY DISTRIBUTED LOAD, AND THUS IT IS SOMEWHAT SIMILAR IN NATURE TO THE AASHO LANE LOAD. THIS PROPOSED BRIDGE DESIGN LOAD DOES NOT READILY LEND ITSELF TO DESIGN USING PRESENT WORKING STRESS METHODS. A TENTATIVE FRAMEWORK OF REFERENCE FOR LOAD FACTOR DESIGN IS PRESENTED.