The purpose of the High Speed line in California is to connect Los Angeles and San Francisco, in an attempt to change the paradigm in transportation, reducing air and road traffic and seeking the sustainability and rationalization of mass transportation.
The Wasco Viaduct is located in Kern County, in the city of Wasco. The structure, which serves a double high-speed slab track, is articulated in three sections, two post-tensioned concrete viaducts and a central pergola, also in concrete, to cross the BNSF tracks. The layout, curved in plan, will allow a service speed of 354 km/h.
The design philosophy of the CHSR Authority is to avoid track expansion devices, and therefore the Wasco Viaduct has been designed in that way, with maximum structure lengths of 100 m. The viaduct has been designed under the parameters of the Californian earthquake-resistant regulations, consisting of integral structures and ductility criteria based on plastic hinges.
The entrance viaduct is integrated by two consecutive viaducts, with 3 and 2 spans, of 30.5 m each one; while the exit viaduct is made up of two 30 m spans. The cross section of the viaducts consists of a concrete box 2.7 m deep and 13.1 m wide.
The central section is the most important of the viaduct, composed of a 375 m pergola, divided into 5 modules, being the one that crosses over the BNSF tracks, with a transverse span of 36 m pergola frames with beams of precast concrete types CA-WF96 and CA-WF102, with a slab 13.1 m wide and 30 cm thick.