More and more clients are finding the benefit in including experienced contractors on the design team to assist in preconstruction and constructability reviews. Jacobs Engineering engaged ICC to assist with preconstruction on a partial bridge reconstruction for one of the firm’s rail clients— our involvement ultimately resulted in significant project cost savings.
A COST-SAVING SOLUTION TO A PROBLEM WE’VE SEEN BEFORE
The project centered on one of the abutments that was failing on the existing bridge. The original design concept included a new pier in front of the existing abutment and a new abutment behind it. The original concept also required modification of the existing steel girder span and the addition of a new precast span.
During our analysis of the initial design concept, we were able to draw from our extensive experience to suggest an alternative solution we had seen previously for this very condition.
Our proposed solution was to place the new pier in front of the existing abutment and install a new abutment with wing walls tying into the existing structure, then backfill and bury the existing abutment with flowable fill and granular materials. This concept eliminated a pier structure through the use of drilled shafts, structural excavation and a precast span, reducing the total track outage window and saving more than $100,000 in project costs. Our solution was incorporated into the final design.
