The City of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has SAFPLATE^®, fiberglass gritted plate panels installed on the pedestrian walkways on two of the city’s canal bridges. Both the Pleasant Street Bridge and the Michigan Avenue Bridge are canal lift bridges (they lift up for boats to pass through) and are subject to truck & car traffic as well as pedestrian traffic. Steel and aluminum deck plates were originally bolted to steel structures, however, moisture and corrosion required the deck panels to be removed, sandblasted and painted underneath every two years. The weight of the steel decking required the use of heavy equipment and made this maintenance job even more difficult. Aluminum deck panels were lighter weight but lasted only 10 years due to the galvanic action. The corrosion resistance of fiberglass plate is expected to more than double the product life cycle. Fiberglass which is 20% the weight of steel and 70% the weight of aluminum, further reduces the installation and maintenance costs.

The anti-skid grit surface of SAFPLATE^® has greatly improved the safety of these walkways during wet or icy conditions.

Fabricated by Strongwell-Chatfield Location, the SAFPLATE^® panels for both bridges were 5/8" thick plate in 4' x 12' panels with anti-skid grit surface. The Pleasant Street Bridge project was further fabricated with 20 holes in each panel being drilled, countersunk and sealed.

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