52/Plumbing Engineer October 2021
By Steve Cooper
T
o enhance the safety of its students as they walk across the longest pedestrian bridge in the state dur- ing the winter, Utah Valley University (UVU) took advantage of the technology and the many benefits that a hydronic snowmelt system would deliver. The hydronic system for the bridge was named Project of the Year by the Building & Construction Division (BCD; www.plasticpipe.org/BuildingConstruction) of the Plastics Pipe Institute, which represents the plastic pipe industry. Pipe manufacturers and PPI member companies Uponor (Apple Valley, Minn.) and REHAU (Leesburg, Va.) received the honors during the association's annual meeting in May 2021. The association's annual awards program recognizes projects and members for exceptional contributions to the industry. Submissions in the association's divisions are reviewed, evaluated and voted upon by the PPI members. The pedestrian bridge was part of the UVU expansion plan as a way to provide access between the Intermodal Center in Orem, Utah, and the UVU campus. The uni- versity knew the 970-foot-long pedestrian bridge would need a consistent, reliable, long-life and low-maintenance solution that didn't include salting or sanding surfaces, or moving equipment across the structure to remove snow and ice. Plus, the system would need a dependable way to supply the heated glycol solution. The $30.7 million bridge spanning I-15 is longer than three football fields and, at 15-feet wide, has nearly 15,000 square feet of walkway. Funding for the bridge was approved in 2016; construction began in 2018. It opened in February 2021. "Orem receives an average of 40 inches of snow every winter," notes David M. Fink, president of PPI. "This makes maintenance incredibly important, but the size and positioning of the bridge make around-the-clock manual snow removal nearly impossible and very difficult to maneuver any equipment. It is estimated that more than 5,000 students would be using the pedestrian bridge every day. "With open sides, the walkway is subjected to blowing snow in wintertime, so the university wanted a heated concrete walkway to increase pedestrian safety and to nullify the need for a multiperson crew to be on-site 24 hours a day. This is a unique type of snow melting project that has rarely, if ever, been done before in North America. It's a marvelous accomplishment most worthy of the PPI Project of the Year Award." Challenging Design UVU brought the design challenge to Aron Frailey, owner and chief mechanical engineer of Thermal Engineering (Salt Lake City). The main concerns with the UVU Bridge project were the structure's height; spanning an active interstate highway, a street and railroad tracks; plus be subjected to normal swaying. While Frailey has decades of experience in hydronic snowmelt systems, he had never designed or installed a system for an elevated 15-foot-wide bridge suspended 35 feet in the air over one of the most heavily trafficked roads in the state, which could not be shut down. To meet the university's goals, Frailey needed piping solutions that would be durable enough for the harsh conditions but also be practical and viable for his construction crew. The hydronic supply and return loop under the walk- way would have to be done without shutting down the roads or the rail lines. Originally, the supply-and-return piping specification called for 4-inch steel pipe. Because
Snowmelt System Snares Industry Honor
The hybrid PP-RCT/PEX system keeps the path clear for thousands of students who daily transverse Utah's longest pedestrian bridge.
The new pedestrian bridge at the Utah Valley University is longer than three football fields. Photo: Uponor
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