The N160 project is a critical link in Sound Transit’s Northgate Extension corridor connecting the University of Washington to Northgate. The project consists of a six-tenths mile elevated guideway, a passenger station and parking garage.
Sound Transit elected to use 72 inch tall precast/pre-tensioned trapezoidal girders with a cast-in-place deck for the superstructure. Each span utilized two girders, with webs sloped at a 1 to 3 ratio for the owner’s aesthetic requirements. To accommodate various bearing conditions some girders were cast with integrated end-blocks including end-blocks with dapped ends.
The N160 trapezoidal girders are at the cutting edge of precast technology, with some girders approaching 130 ton shipping weight and 4.1 million pounds of pre-tensioning.
4.1 million pounds of pre-tension force
Integrated end-blocks
60” wide x 72” tall trapezoidal girders
