Azar Design Co was selected to design this locally administered federal aid bridge replacement project involving the reconstruction and slight realignment of CR152 along with adjacent roadway work. Our services included survey & mapping, environmental, preliminary and final design, bidding, construction assistance and construction inspection.

CR-152 is in an open area of Jefferson County where vehicles tend to exceed the speed limit. With a steep grade, sub-standard curve and limited sight distance, accidents could have been prevalent. The limited drainage and the super-elevation also led to ice sheeting on cold days.

During design, Azar worked with DOT and the County to mitigate the sight distance, grade and sub-standard curve to improve it as best as possible while keeping the construction cost in line and not requiring a significantly longer skewed bridge; designed the drainage to help eliminate ice sheeting across the road and accelerated the design schedule so construction work could begin early, and the contractor had a full season.

The contractor used innovative construction techniques such as:

     ·Porta-Dam as a cofferdam to limit the time required for cofferdam installation and protect      

       the work area; and

     ·Beam launching with cranes on both sides of the waterway so that superstructure 

       installation was expediated. A “walk through” was held prior to ensure all details were 

       worked out. Installation occurred rapidly in a few hours.

The bridge was opened to traffic in late 2018 (1 construction season) with only planting and final paving left for 2019. The project finished approximately 5% under the bid, an amount which was less than the Engineer’s Estimate. When the rock outcropping was found to be higher than was anticipated, the contractor, consultant staff and County all worked quickly to find an optimal solution that did not delay the work but still maintained the intent of the project.