THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, June 3, 1996 TAG: 9606030044
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL CLANCY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: KIPTOPEKE LENGTH: 92 lines
With a giant pile driver leading the way, a new span of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel is inching its way across the mouth of the Bay, the first major improvement to the world's largest bridge complex in more than 30 years.
After a winter slowed by snow and rain, the $250 million to $300 million bridge portion of the project is back on track and moving toward open-water construction, Ted Kirk, project manager for PHI, the joint venture company building the span, said Friday.
``I think the feeling here is pretty optimistic. We're starting to see the major work break loose now,'' Kirk said.
That work involves the pre-casting of 100-foot-long concrete sections that will be floated out to trestles anchored to the Bay bottom, hoisted by giant cranes and tied together three-abreast.
A mere 900 feet of the 20-mile structure was in place last week, leaning southward from Fisherman's Island, but motorists passing on the existing bridge to the east can see it begin to take shape.
PHI (for PCL/Hardaway/Interbeton) was hoping to complete the project in three years instead of four. After winter setbacks, Kirk said, the company still expects to finish 10 months early.
Current plans are to complete the new span by September 1998. At that point, the old span, finished in 1964, is to be shut down for repairs until July 1999.
But James K. Brookshire Jr., executive director of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel District, said he believes the old span can be closed in phases, allowing part of the parallel roadway to open early.
Brookshire praised PHI for its initiative. ``The contractor has jumped in with both feet,'' he said. ``I'm kind of excited about what's going on, to tell the truth.''
One key to the work getting underway is the 30-acre pre-casting operation at Little Creek near the southern end of the bridge, now producing the bridge sections.
Another is the giant, jack-up platform with a crane capable of muscling 350 tons at a time.
The steady beat of a pile driver can be heard as the work advances. A cluster of 16 piles is jammed into the soft Chesapeake Bay sand. That supports a concrete base on which the trestle sections are placed.
Much of the winter was spent expanding the roadway as it leads into the existing tunnels.
``It was just like Chicago out here,'' said Don Bernhoft, superintendent of road widening at one of the tunnels.
Because plans do not call for constructing new tunnels for several more years - they will cost upwards of $800 million - the new span will angle back to the existing tunnels, forcing traffic again back into two lanes for the two mile-long underwater sections.
But Brookshire said that because traffic stretches out along the bridge-tunnel expanse, it should not cause any major slow-downs. An added benefit of the parallel spans will be wider roadways with shoulders. Now, accidents can badly tie up traffic.
On a tour of the bridge work last week, Brookshire pointed to a slow-moving truck with a line of cars behind. ``This is where we'll improve traffic flow and eliminate the frustrations of a lot of drivers,'' he said.
The bridge-tunnel, acclaimed as one of the five engineering wonders of the world, includes 12.2 miles of trestled roadway, two 1-mile-long tunnels, two bridges, almost two miles of causeway, four man-made islands and 5 1/2 miles of approach roads, totaling 23 miles.
It replaced the Little Creek ferry service that began in 1933.
Total cost of the present complex was $200 million. Ultimately, when tunnels are added to the new structure, the new project will cost an estimated $1.2 billion.
For now, 2 1/2 years of hard work lies ahead for the contractor.
``I feel like we're standing at the top of a hill with a small snowball and trying to push it down the hill to gain momentum,'' Kirk said.
``But it's underway.'' ILLUSTRATION: D. KEVIN ELLIOTT/The Virginian-Pilot
Randy ``Hippie'' Spires prepares a curb frame on the span section
under construction near Fisherman's Island, off the Eastern Shore.
Color photo by D. KEVIN ELLIOTT/The Virginian-Pilot
A mighty pile driver pounds a cluster of supports into the soft,
sandy bottom of the Chesapeake Bay from its Fisherman's Island point
of origin. But, above, Michelle Stinson and Danny Mannix show the
job still requires not-so-mere people power to get bags of grout to
the job site.
Color graphic by Ken Wright
New Construction
Area Shown: Construction under way right now on this portion
For complete copy, see microfilm
KEYWORDS: CHESAPEAEK BAY BRIDGE TUNNEL CONSTRUCTION by CNB