Halfway Across the Breach!!

These photos just came in today...

...showing the progress of the temporary bridge at Pea Island!

More photos are up on our Flickr page

Where does the asphalt go?

UPDATE: Our ops folks say that they have now decided to place a layer of asphalt on top of the bridge deck to provide more non-skid protection in wet weather. That will also make the ride quality across the metal deck panels better.

Recently, one of our followers on Twitter asked how we would put asphalt on the temporary bridge being installed at the breach on Pea Island. It’s hard enough explaining technical engineering details, let alone in 140 characters so we thought we’d get into a bit more detail here.

Our chief of operations says assembling the bridge is sort of like putting together a stage at a country music concert.  It has panels that are placed on a framework that extends out across the water.  That becomes the actual surface that cars and other vehicles will ride across.  That’s part of what makes the structure temporary.  So, no asphalt is needed.  At least for the bridge.

Down the road several miles, it’s a different story.  Hurricane Irene cut several other breaches near the town of Rodanthe, in a section of the highway known to locals as the S-curves. There, the protective dunes are being rebuilt, the crumbled, destroyed asphalt removed, and the bed for the road is being built up and replaced. In this section of N.C. 12, we will be putting down new asphalt where the roadway was washed away.

So, while most of the attention has been on construction and completion of the interesting and unique temporary bridge, the highway can’t reopen until all parts of the project are finished, including repair of the S-curves. 

There are several sections of roadway at each end of the temporary bridge where we are building the road above the current highway that will need new asphalt as well.

Weather is acting up this week. Yesterday, all but the sandbagging had to stop for a while because of thunderstorms.  Rain isn't great for taking pictures either, and apparently salty air isn't great for digital cameras! As soon as we have new pics, we'll get 'em up.

In the meantime, here are the latest stats:

Piling:  53 piles driven out of 82 total piles.

Concrete Footings:  6 footings poured out of 12 total footings.

Bridge Bearing Supports:  0 bearings installed out of 12 total bearing supports.

Bringing in Reinforcements

Crews on the NC 12 restoration project worked through the weekend and in the rain and they've made significant progress. Nonetheless, rain is forecast through this week, so our contractor partner Carolina Bridge Co. has called in an additional night crew, scheduled to begin tonight, to help make up for any lost time.

Check out today's NCDOT Now which features the NC 12 project this week.

Today's key stats:

Pilings
 
Bulkheads
 
Footings




Bridge Truss Spans

Ferry Reservation Help

As you can imagine, the NCDOT Ferry Division is overwhelmed with visitors wanting to make, change or cancel reservations to Ocracoke, as well as Avon, Buxton, Frisco and Hatteras Village through Ocracoke. We want to share some important information that will help make this process easier for everyone. First, if you're trying to make a ferry reservation online and the words "invalid date" appear, that means that particular run is sold out. No more space is available. Customers are encouraged to try other dates or times for travel. Second, if you need to change or cancel a reservation, please do not email that information to the Ferry Division. Due to the high volume of calls staff is receiving at this time, they are unable to check and response to emails on a regular basis. Instead, customers are urged to call the following numbers for assistance: * Main call center at 1-800-293-2779; * Cedar Island Operations at (252) 225-7411 or (252) 225-3141; and * Ocracoke at (252) 928-5311. These three sites can make changes to reservations. Ferry schedule information is available by calling 800-293-3779 (BY-FERRY) and pressing 1, or via Twitter at www.twitter.com/ncdot_ferry.

Milestone!

Crews have driven half of the 82 piles needed for the temporary bridge across the breach at Pea Island! And they are over half way on installing the 726 linear feet of sheet piling bulkhead.

Meanwhile, crews had a visitor on the site yesterday.The common snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina) is the largest freshwater turtle in North Carolina. It can be found all across the state, and it's been known to hang out in brackish coastal water. The marshland on the sound side of the area near the N.C. 12 breaches is a great place for these interesting, yet intimidating critters to live. Don't let these turtles fool you, though. Even though they may seem slow, when threatened, they can move very fast and their strong jaws can cause a very painful bite, hence their name. Hopefully, our crews left this little guy well enough alone!

Bridge Building 101: Bents

A "bent" doesn't sound like something that's really a good thing to have when building a bridge, does it? And yet, we have several "bents" as part of the installation of the temporary bridge across the Pea Island breach.

Bents are substructures supporting each end of the bridge span. according to our colleagues at the Ohio DOT, a bent is a rigid frame commonly made of reinforced concrete or steel that supports a vertical load and is placed transerse to the length of a structure. Bents are commonly used to support beams and girders. An end bent is the supporting frame forming part of an abutment.

How did those structures get that name? According to cursory research, the term dates back to the 1800's. One engineer on MadSci.org speculates as to the origin of the term but it's hard to find a definitive answer!

N.C. 12 Update 9/21/2011

At the Rodanthe breach area, crews continued hauling sand for dune construction and installed sand bags along the S-curves. Crews moved to south of the Pea Island breach to begin installing sand bags.

At the temporary bridge location on Pea Island, crews drove 8 piles at bent 3. At bent 2, crews set up the pile driving template and will begin driving piles soon. Bents are substructures supporting each end of the bridge span. Approximately 30 additional feet of the bridge was assembled Tuesday.

NCDOT estimates that the roadway could be fully reopened sometime in early October depending on weather conditions between now and then.