MAJOR PROJECT UPDATE: Snapshot

June 24, 2014

Elizabeth River Tunnels, Portsmouth, Va.: The six connecting elements of the new tunnel adjacent to the Midtown Tunnel are currently under construction in dry dock at Sparrows Point in Baltimore, with one completed at press time. In June, the elements were scheduled to be towed 200 miles down Chesapeake Bay to the project site. Meanwhile, concrete placement is ongoing at both approaches, with 18-in. piles being driven at the Norfolk approach while utilities are being reconfigured.

Elizabeth River Tunnels, Portsmouth, Va.: The six connecting elements of the new tunnel adjacent to the Midtown Tunnel are currently under construction in dry dock at Sparrows Point in Baltimore, with one completed at press time. In June, the elements were scheduled to be towed 200 miles down Chesapeake Bay to the project site. Meanwhile, concrete placement is ongoing at both approaches, with 18-in. piles being driven at the Norfolk approach while utilities are being reconfigured. For the MLK Freeway extension, the pedestrian bridge over I-264 near Frederick Boulevard was removed in March to create space for the widening of the freeway; the new bridge is scheduled to be in place by year’s end. Finally, crews have installed more than 2,400 ft of new LED lighting inside the rehabbing Downtown Tunnel and are in the midst of concrete repair on all barriers. 85%

S.R. 99, Seattle: Drilling on this $3.1 billion tunnel project has been at a standstill since December when “Bertha” the tunneling machine broke down. Construction began in May on the walls of the access pit crews will use to reach the drill for repairs. If all goes according to plan, tunneling will resume by the end of March 2015. The Washington State Department of Transportation and contractor Seattle Tunnel Partners still expect the Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement to be open to the public by the original November 2016 date. Concrete segments for the tunnel’s exterior walls are being manufactured off-site in Frederickson, Wash.; construction on those segments was 72% complete at press time. Also in Seattle, crews are at each end of the tunnel building the connectors to the existing S.R. 99 while work continues on the operations buildings at both portals. 64%

Huguenot Bridge, Richmond, Va.: Even though the Virginia Department of Transportation declared the new Huguenot Bridge completed at the end of October 2013, the replacement structure was open to traffic at the end of the previous May. The intervening period saw contractor Skanska complete final landscaping, spot paving and other minor construction activities. The new bridge—which carries an average of 25,000 vehicles between Richmond and Henrico County, Va., on a daily basis—now boasts 12-ft travel lanes with a 10-ft shoulder on each side, increasing safety for bicyclists and stranded motorists. A new 5-ft sidewalk also is present on both sides of the bridge for pedestrians. In total, 4,700 tons of steel and 6,200 cu yd of concrete were utilized in the project. 100%

I-69, Evansville-Indianapolis, Ind.: Part of a federal Corridor of the Future that will ultimately stretch from Canada to Mexico, the 142-mile Indiana portion of I-69 is about half done. Divided into six sections by the Indiana DOT (INDOT), the first three sections opened to traffic in November 2012. Construction is under way in Section 4 between Crane and Bloomington, focusing on earthmoving—between 25 and 27 million cu yd of dirt is being moved in this hilly region—and bridge and embankment work. INDOT expects to open Section 4 in phases beginning in late 2014 and going into early 2015. The contract for Section 5 was finalized this past April, with utility work scheduled to begin this summer. 43%

S.R. 520 Floating Bridge, Seattle: Seventy-seven total pontoons will be used in the new S.R. 520 floating bridge in Seattle, 46 of which were on-site at press time in mid-May. Pontoons A and W—the two cross pontoons, at the western and eastern ends of the new bridge, respectively—were put into place in May; Pontoon V, the first longitudinal pontoon, was attached to Pontoon W shortly thereafter. Following that pattern, Pontoon U is scheduled to begin installation in June. Pontoon construction is ongoing at sites in Tacoma and Aberdeen, Wash. The project is still on-track for the new S.R. 520 floating bridge to be opened to the public in spring 2016. 58%

Port of Miami Tunnel, Miami: Four years after construction began, the project team for the Port of Miami Tunnel held an opening ceremony for the substantially completed tunnel in mid-May. The completed structure measures 4,200 ft long and features four 12-ft traffic lanes—two in each direction—and a pair of 10-ft shoulder lanes, plus a 6-ft sidewalk. It will allow traffic heading to and from the port, mainly truck traffic, to bypass downtown Miami, relieving congestion for all drivers. Safety measures include 91 roadway CCTV cameras, a dynamic messaging system and 50-ton hurricane flood gates. Florida DOT expects all remaining work on the tunnel to be completed in August. 100%

George V. Voinovich (Innerbelt) Bridge, Cleveland: The first of two new five-lane bridges to replace the original 1959 Innerbelt Bridge was completed in November, becoming the largest bridge project in Ohio DOT history. That structure is currently carrying the original bridge’s average daily traffic load of 140,000 vehicles both east- and westbound. The next task—already under way at press time—is demolishing the original nine-span structure. Four of the nine spans will be removed by hand; one of these spans was already demolished at press time. ODOT will use explosives to remove the remaining nine spans, a procedure scheduled to begin in mid-July. Construction of the second bridge—which is grouped under the same contract as the demolition—will begin when that procedure is complete sometime this fall. ODOT expects the new Voinovich Bridge to be open by fall 2016. 55%

Ohio River Bridges, Ind.-Ky.: Construction is progressing on both elements of the new bridge system, which includes the Downtown Crossing and the East End Crossing. Lane widening and striping was ongoing on the Downtown Crossing at press time, with work shifting to northbound I-65 between Muhammad Ali Boulevard and Witherspoon Street. I-65 South traffic was scheduled to be moved to the new I-65 South collector-distributor roadway, which runs parallel to the existing I-65 South, in early June; that measure is expected to be in effect into 2015. At the East End Crossing, crews were preparing for blasting of the new tunnel near U.S. 42 and S.R. 841. 80%

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