ICO CASE HISTORY - Milwaukee County, Wisconsin - Harley Davidson Access Bridge

Steve Martinez, structural maintenance specialist of the Milwaukee County Department of Transportation, was looking for a deck coating for a 2,400 sf access bridge leading into a Harley Davidson manufacturing facility. The bridge deck was developing cracks that were getting larger due to vibrations from heavy traffic and freeze/thaw conditions. As a result water was starting to penetrate down to the rebar. Another concrete overlay was not possible due to the load capacity of the bridge, so an epoxy overlay was chosen as a lighter weight alternative. Material requirements included a flexibilized coating that could withstand vibration and very fast cure times to enable a return to service in 12-14 hours. After reviewing several options with Herb Szatmary (Structures Maintenance Specialist) and Chuck Smeltzer (Milwaukee County Highway Manager) and having several meetings with International Coatings rep, Tony Holzinger, Steve decided on International Coating’s specially formulated bridge coating system, ICO Coat TH.

Step 1: At about 8am the bridge was closed to traffic and the deck was prepared by using a Blastrac machine to provide a clean, sound, abraded surface for the coating system to bond with.

Step 2: The first coat was ICO Coat TH FC "fast cure" and was applied with a notched squeegee at a rate of 30 sf per gallon. Because the county wanted a minimum amount of downtime and the first coat was being applied in the early morning while temperatures were still relatively cool the "FC" system was used for the first coat. Black beauty aggregate was then broadcast into the coating until refusal.

Step 3: After the first coat had cured hard enough for foot traffic (approximately 3 hours) all the loose aggregate was first swept and then blown off with an air compressor.

Step 4: For the second coat ICO Coat TH MC "medium cure" was used because the afternoon temperatures were climbing into the high 90’s. It was applied by notched squeegee at a rate of about 20 sf per gallon and again the black beauty aggregate was broadcast until refusal.

Step 5: After the second coat was hard enough for foot traffic all the loose aggregate was swept up. The bridge was later opened to vehicle traffic at about 6pm - less than 11 hours after the coating project was started.