Granite Construction has contracted Westbrook for the inspection of the falsework required for the construction of the Cline Avenue Bridge in East Chicago, IN. The falsework towers are constructed from steel pre-fabricated modules that are assembled together at each concrete pier of the bridge. The falsework towers help to support the eccentric loads imposed by the placement of the precast box girders segments as the Cline Avenue Bridge is built out from the pier. The proper assembly of the falsework tower is crucial to support the bridge dead loads during the various construction stages and for the safety of the construction crew. The projected completion date for this project is the end of 2020.

Here is a great slideshow to show the progress of the project: https://www.clineave.com/construction

 

This project is a new agricultural marine shipping facility, which will be located along the Missouri River (rm 680.75) in Monona County, Iowa near the town of Blencoe.  The proposed Ag shipping facility will involve a barge unloading area for dry fertilizer, roadway salt, and roadway aggregates (gravel & stone).  These materials will be unloaded from product barges by the use of a material handler with a clamshell bucket sitting on a platform barge.  Materials will be placed into a hopper sitting on the platform barge and then conveyed to the land side storage areas.  The dry fertilizer products shall be conveyed to a building enclosure. Roadway aggregate and roadway salt shall be conveyed to radial tele-stacker conveyor to be stock piled.  The empty product barges will then be cleaned and positioned downstream breasting against another platform barge, which will be used for loading the product barges with soybean or corn.  The loading area will use a combination of belt conveyors and a radial tele-stacker conveyor to convey material to be load to the product barges and then transported down the Missouri River.  The proposed Ag shipping facility will have roadways for semi-truck access to each of the above described unloading and loading areas of the site.

Westbrook Associated Engineers provided the following engineering services for this project:

• Agency Coordination & Permitting – coordination with US Army Corps of Engineers, Iowa DNR & Monona County regarding work within the Missouri river which included a Hydrologic & Hydraulic Analysis (H&H) to be included with “Joint Application” submitted to the USACOE and IDNR.  Westbrook also prepared Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP) including design of all associated stormwater devices to meet state and federal stormwater quality and quantity requirements for this new site development project.
• Design Phase Administrative Services – coordination with geotechnical, bathymetric survey, landside survey, building contractors, mechanical equipment suppliers, preliminary coordination with various construction related activities involving site grading, concrete foundations, structural steel, etc.
• Structural Analysis & Design – barge mooring pipe piles, modifications to both platform barges, access ramp to platform barges, modifications to used belt conveyor truss’s for increase span lengths, access walkways to barge mooring pipe piles.
• Structural Foundation Design – access ramp to platform barge, belt conveyors, fertilizer building, access walkways to barge mooring pipe piles
• Site Development – grading plan and details for loading / unloading truck traffic and design for site drainage and all stormwater devices
• Construction Phase Administrative Service – RFI’s, shop drawing review, material cert’s, on-site inspections and construction documentation control.

For more information from two local news stations with coverage of the ground breaking ceremony held in Blenco on September 9^th: Gov. Reynolds, Blencoe community break ground on NEW Coop Ag port along Missouri River | KMEG & Port of Blencoe breaks ground, potential money-saver for farmers | 4KTIV

The Milwaukee Street Bridge over the Rock River in Janesville, WI opened last week.  Westbrook was responsible for construction administration and engineering.  The new bridge is a four-span bridge with decorative arches, parapets, and lighting.  This project replaced a four-span concrete arch bridge that was built in 1913/14 that had outlived its design life and had become structurally deficient.  That bridge in turn had replaced a timber structure that burned down in 1913.  Remnants of past structures were encountered throughout the project.  The project team also worked through multiple floods and the current pandemic.

Here’s an article from the Janesville Gazette about the Milwaukee Street Bridge over the Rock River in downtown Janesville: https://tinyurl.com/thx7ob6

 

CTH M bridge construction inspection, in the Town of Trenton within Washington County, Wisconsin, continues to move along quickly despite the cold and snow in February. The old bridge deck and piers are demolished. The piles are driven and both new piers are poured. In the coming weeks, the abutments will be poured with the deck to follow. The project is running on schedule and under budget and is expected to be completed summer 2020. Photo is courtesy of Washington County’s drone.