THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, August 3, 1996 TAG: 9608030375
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY NAOMI AOKI, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 80 lines
A crack as thin as a paper clip in a piling of the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel turned westbound lanes into a six-mile parking lot Friday and promises to do the same through the weekend.
Officials closed the right lane of the two westbound lanes at 10:30 a.m. Friday after discovering the crack earlier that morning. Engineers believe construction from the bridge-widening project caused the crack.
The 3-foot-tall crack is at a critical point in the bridge's structure, about 300 feet from the beginning of the quarter-mile span heading to Hampton. The crack extends from one end of a main support, known as the pier cap, to the other.
The piling is one of hundreds supporting the bridge, and the crack poses no immediate threat to motorists, officials said.
``We are taking all the precautions in the world to make sure everyone is safe,'' said Tyler Richardson, superintendent of maintenance for the bridge-tunnel.
Repairs began Friday morning and will continue around the clock until they are completed. If all goes well, both lanes of westbound traffic on Interstate 64 will be open before rush hour Monday, Richardson said.
But in the meantime, a quarter-mile stretch of the right lane has been closed. The speed limit has been lowered by 10 mph, and westbound traffic will be stopped several times during the repairs. Stoppages should last no longer than 15 minutes.
Traffic had slowed to a crawl by 1 p.m. Friday, as cars and trucks lined up back to the Tidewater Drive exit. At 6 p.m., the situation was a little better, traffic was backed up to Granby Street. The bumper-to-bumper conditions remained past 8 p.m.
``We've lowered the speed limit to 35 mph, but that's pretty much irrelevant for right now,'' said Bill Cannell, a spokesman for the Virginia Department of Transportation.
The outlook isn't any better for weekend travelers. Last weekend, between Friday and Monday, about 136,000 cars and trucks crossed the span from Norfolk to Hampton.
``We'll be doing the best we can. We know it'll be bad,'' Richardson said. ``We ask people to be patient with us.''
Officials are still unsure exactly what happened. Once the repairs are under way, Richardson said, the transportation department will begin its investigation.
Engineers believe that an existing piling was damaged when workers were driving a new piling Thursday. The construction is part of the two-year bridge widening and renovation project started in the fall.
It is likely that the new piling struck the old piling and weakened it, Richardson said. As a result, the piling could not support the full weight of the bridge and the traffic, and the pier cap cracked under the pressure.
Over the next few days, McLean Contracting, the company responsible for the renovation project and the repairs, will drill two 36-by-36-inch holes into the bridge deck to make way for new pilings.
Cranes will set the 105-foot pilings in place. At the bottom of the Bay, a pressure pump will dig two 50-foot holes. Then, the piling driver, a 90-foot steel tower resembling an oil derrick, will thrust the pilings about 100 feet into the ground.
A new pier cap, which will be placed underneath the cracked cap, and the two new pilings will take the weight of the bridge off the damaged piling and cap, but the cracked pier cap and piling will remain in place.
``This is a permanent fix,'' Richardson said.
The piling that was driven in on Thursday will be removed from the water as part of the investigation. Richardson said the piling could provide clues to what really happened.
Officials do not know what the repairs will cost. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN\The Virginian-Pilot
Only a boat could make any real progress heading toward the
Peninsula about 3 p.m. Friday as traffic on Interstate 64 backed up
beyond Tidewater Drive in Norfolk.
Color Graphic by Ken Wright/The Virginian-Pilot
Bridge-Tunnel Damage
For copy of graphic, see microfilm
KEYWORDS: HAMPTON ROADS BRIDGE TUNNEL REPAIRS by CNB