Crews Finish Up New $65M Sidney Lanier Bridge

Wed August 21, 2002
Tonya Layman

The 43-year-old Sidney Lanier Bridge on U.S. Highway 17 in coastal Brunswick, GA, has seen its share of navigational nightmares. Because of this the U.S. Coast Guard declared the span a navigational hazard, and plans were created and funds were appropriated to replace the bridge.

The current bridge is a lift-span that employs a mechanism that elevates each time shipping traffic flows in or out of the Port of Brunswick. Every time the lift goes up allowing shipping traffic through, the road traffic stops on one of the area’s busiest highways.

The bridge also limits the type of shipping traffic allowed into the Port of Brunswick, thus limiting the business that can be done there.

The bridge and roadway were closed in the early 1980s for several months due to a shipping accident that involved the bridge. A newer, bigger and more modern span will put an end to those days in Brunswick.

Construction on the new Sidney Lanier Bridge started in 1995, with the construction of approaches leading to the main span, and is expected to be open for traffic by late fall.

The new concrete bridge will be four lanes with 4-ft. (1.2 m) center medians and 8-ft. (2.4 m) shoulders that run 7,780 ft. (2,371 m).

The main span of the bridge consists of 2,500 ft. (762 m) of cast-in-place segmental, cable-stayed roadway. It also features a 1,250-ft. (381 m) center span and flanking spans of 625 ft. (190.5 m). The main portion is supported by 72-in. (183 cm) cast-in-place, slurry displaced drilled shafts with 40 shafts under each tower. The large tower footings are among the largest concrete pours in Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) history. The bridge deck is 73.5 ft. (22.4 m) wide. The vertical clearance over the channel is a minimum of 185 ft. (56 m) and traffic will be traveling at an elevation of 203 ft. (62 m) over the channel.

In 1997, a $65-million contract was awarded to the joint venture of Condotte America Inc., formerly known as Recchi America Inc., and GLF Construction Corp. to construct the main span of the bridge.

According to Lisa Sikes, of the GDOT, the replacement of the bridge and deepening of the channel will provide navigation clearance necessary for the Port of Brunswick to remain competitive into the 21st century.

“Replacement of the bridge is key to the economic development of Brunswick. It is estimated that sales revenues will increase by $464-million annually; tax revenues will increase by $15.8-million annually resulting in payback to taxpayers in 11 years; and jobs will increase 1,100 by the year 2010,” Sikes said.

But replacement is not coming as fast as originally planned. The original contract completion date was Dec. 31, 2000, however the DOT granted the contractor a six-month extension making the contract completion date June 30, 2001. But the bridge is still not complete. The first phase was the construction of the north and south approaches. This work began in July 1995 and was completed on schedule in July 1998. The second phase, the main span contract, began in February 1997 and is currently scheduled for completion in October.

Two custom-designed and built Form Travelers were used to fabricate the roadway of the bridge. One Form Traveler was used on the back span side and one was used on the main span side of each tower. The roadway was formed in sections with both Form Travelers starting at the tower and moving outward in equal sections to keep the weight being placed on the tower even. These machines were built by Wito/Hunnebeck, a joint venture out of Europe. The workers continued to build sections of the roadway working out of the towers until the roadway met in the middle and could be connected.

One of the major delays of the project is due to an accident involving one of the Form Travelers. In June of 1999, crews were using the strand and jack system to raise one of the Form Travelers approximately 180 ft. (55 m) to the bridge.

“In the final 2 ft. of raising, we had a lifting mechanism failure and it fell onto a rock island below, which totally destroyed the Traveler,” Project Manager Brian West said. “Nothing was salvageable and we faced an eight-month delay waiting for a new one to be built and shipped from Europe.”

Using the Form Traveler also presented somewhat of a learning curve for crews. “There were some technical delays we had not anticipated and there were some design shortcomings with the Traveler that had to be attended to,” West said. “None of these were individually significant in nature, but collectively they have set back the completion date.”

Weather also played a factor in the delay of the project. High coastal winds on the Atlantic, some cold weather and wet periods contributed along with the project being closed down for a week during the threat of a hurricane in 1999.

During the tower construction, winds got worse as the crews built higher. So by the time they reached the upper third of the tower construction, wind played a large factor in the time it took for construction.

“These delays add directly to the cost of performing the work,” West said. “This has been a complex undertaking and not a simple case of opening plans to page one and starting to build.”

A lot of planning had to be put into the construction before it began. Project staff had to evaluate what loads would be placed on the structure and make sure the bridge could withstand loads during the construction phase.

“We had to make sure the bridge could tolerate the construction loads we are going to impose on it,” West said. “This took heavy analysis and these analyses had to be completed and approved before construction could begin.”

There also was a considerable amount of equipment to be maintained on the project. When working at such high elevations, cranes become an important tool. Morrow Equipment Co. provided two Liebherr tower cranes, one for each tower.

Several crawler cranes, including a Manitowoc 888 and a Manitowoc M250 provided by Kelley Equipment, out of Clearwater, FL, and some American Cranes provided by M.D. Moody out of Jacksonville, FL, were used for construction. A few hydraulic cranes were used for material handling. These machines were used for construction support and construction of the columns and the moving of form work and pre-tied reinforced steel.

Four Under Deck access scaffolds were provided by Hydra-Platforms, out of South Carolina, and two personnel elevators were provided by Morrow Equipment Co.

Seaboard Construction, a subcontractor hired to handle the roadwork and paving work on the approaches and at the Jekyll Island interchange, had several graders, earthmovers and pavers on site.

The crews also used two barge-mounted American 9299 ringer cranes to set in place two spans of roadway that run into the mainspan on both sides of the bridge. These 180-ft. (55 m) long, high-level approach spans were some of the longest in the southeast United States and that presented a challenge to the joint venture.

The bridge is in its final stages. Final adjustments are being made to the cables and the roadwork is being completed.

The U.S. Coast Guard is a 50-percent co-owner of this bridge, along with the GDOT. The Department of Natural Resources and the Georgia Ports Authority also have been involved in the construction process.

The old bridge will be removed, however, a 400-ft. (122 m) length of the old bridge’s north end will be retained as a fishing pier for residents to use.