In recent years, prestressed concrete bridges have dominated the bridge type selection processes in Colorado. This can be attributed to a lack of steel mills combined with a strong presence of precast fabricators in the region. In addition, a lack of readily available economical and innovative procedures to design and construct steel bridges has hindered the industry in certain areas such as Colorado. During this research it was identified that designing steel girders as simply supported for the non composite dead loads and continuous for composite dead loads and live loads would provide economy. A preliminary girder selection software was created using this design procedure. The software takes user inputted data, such as span length, width, number of girders along with various other design inputs, and displays the lightest wide flange beam size that would support the loads using AASHTO LRFD Design Specifications. Using the girder selection software, design charts and tables were created to outline structural steel weight to span length and number of girders. The design charts will aid the bridge type selection process by giving designers an accurate measurement of minimum steel requirements for numerous one, two, and three span steel bridges.
