Decked Out In Green

Speed Fab-Crete’s trench panels resembling large planter boxes will be key to the creation of a five-acre deck in Dallas over Woodall Rogers Freeway,

Speed Fab-Crete’s trench panels resembling large planter boxes will be key to the creation of a five-acre ÎgreenÌ deck in Dallas over Woodall Rogers Freeway, known also as Spur 366. To help form a three-block-long park above the freeway, providing a pedestrian link between downtown Dallas and Uptown, the Fort Worth-based producer will fabricate 900 custom-made precast sections totalling 8,300 feet.

More than 6,500 feet of 9-ft. _ 10-ft. trench panels comprise the bulk of Speed Fab-Crete’s contract, awarded by Archer Western Contractors, Ltd. of Arlington, Texas. Fabrication of the project’s most common panel component will entail placement of 1,434 lb. of #4, #5 and #8 steel rebar. Finished units will weigh about 16,000 lb. for delivery to the job site.

Upon installation, the U-shaped trench panels will rest on the freeway deck’s prestressed box-beam ledges. The special sections will appear as elevated planter boxes four feet below deck level. Openings will be prepped with a foam void to decrease the panels’ final weight. Each trench then will be filled with 212 yards of soil to enrich a variety of landscaping features, i.e., 3,200 plants, shrubs and trees, and carry utilities serving the elevated park.

The trench panels will be produced at Speed Fab-Crete’s Kennedale, Texas, plant, which holds National Precast Concrete Association and Architectural Precast Association certifications. The company enlisted Fort Worth-based Hamilton Form to supply special forms for trench panel fabrication. The deck park is slated to open in 2012.