Provo Canyon Snow Shed

The Provo Canyon snow shed is part of highway improvements for US 189 in Provo Canyon, Utah. It is among a handful that has been built by State Departments of Transportation (DOT’s) in the last 50 years. The snow shed is in an active avalanche area and it will improve public safety. This area is also in a high seismic region with peak accelerations of 0.5g. The superstructure consists of Type VI precast concrete girders with a concrete slab. The snow shed is 130 ft long and will be the widest snow shed ever built. The snow shed roof slopes at 1:4 to minimize the loads on the roof and to direct the avalanche off the structure. The avalanche flow is kept within the limits of the snow shed by the use of guide walls placed at each end of the structure. The substructure consists of four octagonal column bents with reinforced concrete bent caps. On the hill side, the columns are buried in backfill and retained with mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) walls. Horizontal tie beams connect the pier to post-tensioned tieback cables anchored into the hillside. These tiebacks resist the tractive avalanche forces and also seismic loading.