Abstract
In increasingly congested urban areas around the country, thousands of bridges are in need of replacement or rehabilitation. One strategic means to accelerate bridge construction is the use of precast concrete bent caps. NCHRP recently funded Project 12-74 'Development of Precast Bent Cap Systems for Seismic Regions'to develop design methodologies, connection details, and design and construction specifications for precast concrete bent caps in seismic regions. This paper summarizes progress on the first five research tasks, including a comprehensive literature review, industry survey, and development of candidate systems and connection details. In addition, an overview of relevant seismic design concepts related to this research is presented.