Project Checklist

Over the course of the last few weeks, we've posted graphs of how much progress we've made on key parts of the installation of the temporary bridge at Pea Island. But, as you know, there's more to getting NC 12 open to traffic than just completing the bridge. And much of what's left to do depends very much on the weather cooperating. We're still estimating that the road could be fully reopened sometime in early October.





Here's our main punch list:  

 Pea Island Bridge

• Place concrete for 4 footings; 
• Install a backwall to accommodate the transition between road and bridge on the south end of the bridge; 
• Assemble approximately 151 feet of bridge truss and launch the bridge truss to the south end;
• Remove the temporary roller bearings and lower bridge onto permanent bearings; 
• Put grout/cement in 86 anchor bolts for the permanent bearings; 
• Adjust bridge truss for a smooth ride onto and off the bridge; Install 12 devices, which are 900 pounds each, to prevent uplift of the bridge in a storm event; 
• Bolt together and install 610 steel deck panels to the truss floor beams to create the riding surface; Complete backfilling the retaining walls at the ends of the bridge; 
• Grade and pave the roadway approaches to the bridge. 
• Install guardrail to the approaches and both sides of the bridge;
• and Pave 2-3 inches of asphalt on the deck panels. 

Roadway at the Pea Island Bridge and Rodanthe

• Continue fine grading to shape the road bed for asphalt paving; 
• Pave approximately 9,000 tons of asphalt;
• Install approximately 82 sand bags at the south end of the s-curves; 
• Reshape the dune were sand bags were installed; 
• Reconstruct the shoulder and reshape the dunes; 
• and Install permanent traffic control devices, reflectors and place pavement markings.

Notes from the Breach: Assistant Resident Engineer Pablo Hernandez

Assistant Resident Engineer Pablo Herandez

For the last month, we’ve been keeping you updated daily on the progress of NCDOT’s efforts to repair damage done to N.C.12 after Hurricane Irene. The lion’s share of the information we’re passing on comes directly from one person, Assistant Resident Engineer Pablo Hernandez, NCDOT’s project manager on-site.  He spends every day, and even some nights making sure things are on track, overseeing the repairs on the S-curves near Rodanthe and the installation of the temporary bridge on Pea Island.  We caught up with him early this morning via cell phone from Dare County.

Hernandez is a 13-year veteran of NCDOT. He spent six years working for the Washington state transportation department before coming back to North Carolina where he worked on another famous span – the Virginia Dare MemorialBridge near Manteo, which happens to be our state’s longest bridge at 5.2 miles.

“I’ve been coming to the Outer Banks ever since I was a little kid,” Hernandez said.  “The beaches here are very similar to the beaches where my mother is from in South America.  Back in 1998, I was fortunate enough to get a job in a beach community like this.”

Among the projects he’s worked on in his NCDOT career, Hernandez said the Virginia Dare Memorial Bridge was certainly the biggest.  He also recalls that an intense effort to repair seven bridges on Ocracoke in two and a half months in 2008 garnered much community attention. The Pea Island project, however, is the real standout.

“It ranks as the most unusual, most complex and most fast-paced project I’ve worked on,” he said.  

Hernandez said the way Dare County, North Carolina and the world is following the repairs is also notable.

“Back in 2008 on the Ocracoke project, all we had was the ‘straight’ internet.  We had a web page that we updated maybe every other day and that was all.  Now with Twitter and Facebook there’s more widespread interest.  It’s really having an impact.”

Hernandez’s updates and photos often include mentions of wildlife or pictures of a nice sunset over the marshes around the project.  In talking to him, it’s clear he has a connection with the whole Outer Banks area that extends well beyond the task at hand.   Recently, a tenacious snapping turtle tried to across the work zone, and it was Hernandez who went to the rescue.

“I just had to get him out of the road.  I didn’t want him to get run over by some piece of heavy equipment,” Hernandez explained. “But I did it with a shovel – people don’t understand how fast those things can move! “

Was he successful and did the turtle cooperate?

“Yes, but not without a fight!”

Hernandez doesn’t have much free time these days, but when he does, he enjoys hanging out on the beach with his family and traveling to see other members of his family who are in Uruguay and Mexico, and he’s learning to kite surf.

More from Hernandez in our video "Restoring the Link"

Today's Update

Here's what's happened today:

At the Rodanthe breach area, crews continued shaping the sand embankments at the S-curves to the correct elevation for the roadway. Sandbag installation was completed at the south end of the Pea Island breech on the ocean and sound side. Crews continued the fine grading of the road bed in preparation of asphalt paving later this week and has begun asphalt base for the northbound lane south of the s-curves. Yesterday, 24 truckloads, totaling 560 tons of asphalt, were delivered to the project.

At the temporary bridge location on Pea Island, crews drove the last 4 piles at bent 1. Bents are substructures supporting each end of the bridge span. The concrete for the footings at bent 2 was placed through a 5” diameter pipeline mounted on the bridge truss across the breech. A concrete pump truck was connected to the 375 foot pipeline.  An additional 77 feet of the bridge truss was assembled. 

Where are we with the major components of the bridge:

Pilings



Concrete Footings














Sheet Pilings

First layer of asphalt down near Rodanthe!

NC 12 Near Rodanthe: After Irene and Now

Here's what NC 12 near the town of Rodanthe looked like after Hurricane Irene came calling:

And here's what it looks like now, since work started on repairing the dunes and laying in the road bed:

Here's what it looks like on the ground, as the work to repair the area of NC12 known as the "S-Curves" continues:

 See all today's photos from the ground on our Flickr site.


Thanks to our Photogrammetry Unit for the cool aerial photos.  What's "photogrammetry?" Here's a video with the 4-1-1:

Cool New Aerial Shot of the Pea Island Breach

This shot from the NCDOT Photogrametry Unit shows the progress on the temporary bridge on NC 12.

Today's Update:

 

Bulkheads Completed!

At the Rodanthe breach area, crews continued shaping the sand embankments at the S-curves to the correct elevation for the roadway. Sandbag installation was completed on the sound side at the S-curves.  Installation continues at the south end of the Pea Island breach. Crews began the fine grading of the road bed in preparation of asphalt paving later this week, weather permitting. Asphalt trucks from RPC Consulting out of Kitty Hawk are being brought over on the Stumpy Point-Rodanthe emergency ferry route beginning today. In total, approximately 100 truckloads of asphalt will use the ferry between today and Thursday, Oct. 6.

At the temporary bridge location on Pea Island, crews drove 8 piles at bent 1. Bents are substructures supporting each end of the bridge span. The driving template for the foundation at the south end of the bridge was set. An additional 52 feet of the bridge truss was assembled and the bridge was launched another 80 feet to the south.

Pilings

 

Bridge Truss Spans

Concrete Footings