Best of 2005 Awards

Victory Bridge

Award of Merit: Bridges

Replacing a 75-year-old bridge poses enough of a task for most contractors. But the team that built the new Victory Bridge in New Jersey faced extra hurdles.

"The biggest challenge was taking over from the existing contractor," one judge said, referring to how George Harms Construction of Howell, N.J., won a bid to become the general contractor after the New Jersey Department of Transportation terminated its original design-build contract with Schiavone Construction of Secaucus, N.J., over design criteria conflicts.

The $109 million project involved replacing Victory Bridge - which connects Perth Amboy and Sayreville across the Raritan River - with two new spans. Completed in September, eight months ahead of schedule, the new bridge is, like its predecessor, dedicated to New Jersey residents who served in World War I.

The project team worked in stages because the centerline of one of the new spans was only yards away from the centerline of the original bridge, which remained in use during construction.

"It's only 30 ft. from the old bridge," one judge said. "They had to keep that bridge operational."

advertisement

The team built the new structure for southbound traffic first. In June 2004, it shifted all four lanes of traffic from the original bridge onto the new 3,971-ft.-long span. The team then demolished the original bridge in order to build a second 3,971-ft. span for northbound lanes, only inches away from the first.

The two new structures are connected with a cap to give a unified appearance. Northbound traffic moved onto the second span in September.

Each span of the new bridge has two 12-ft. lanes, 10-ft. outside shoulders, and 3-ft. inside shoulders. The southbound bridge has a 6-ft. sidewalk for pedestrians.

One of the team's main accomplishments was completing the work on a compressed schedule through time-saving measures. It shaved off months by including construction drawings - and other information such as rebar bends, segment geometry, and tendon stressing - in contractor bid documents.

Meanwhile, for the more complex pier, expansion joint, and deviation segments, the team provided electronic files of three-dimensional integrated color drawings to the steel contractor in order to facilitate the fabrication process. The strategy only required shop drawings for the expansion joints, bearings, and post-tensioning hardware.

The new structure is New Jersey's first concrete segmental bridge. The department of transportation selected this technology for the foundation and deck for its speed of erection, low life-cycle costs, and aesthetic appeal.

The concrete segments were cast in Virginia and barged to the site for erection. Typical precast concrete segments are 9 ft., 4 in. long - a size selected to maximize ease of transportation and erection. The pier segments were cast in halves, each weighing 115 tons.

The fabricator constructed the 22 piers from precast concrete hollow box sections that it connected with post-tensioning techniques. The team was able to erect concrete piers as tall as 100 ft. in one day.

The team built the main span deck using the balanced cantilever construction method, which has superstructure erection begin at the pier and progress outward in both directions. The team erected the main span units and approach spans at the same time to expedite the construction schedule. The two concrete abutments were cast in place.

The new bridge slopes upward to a 355-ft. clearance - instead of the old structure's 128-ft. height, which required a swing-span that opened about 1,500 times a year for river traffic.

Each new span has a 440-ft.-long main center section and two 330-ft.-long secondary sections on either side of the center segment. In addition, the team erected 20 approach spans - varying in length from 142 to 150 ft. - that connect to the secondary spans.

"From my perspective, it's really quite elegant," said one judge.

Key Players

Owner: New Jersey Department of Transportation

General Contractor: George Harms Construction

Engineer of Record: FIGG

Precaster: Bayshore Concrete Products

Associated Roadway Design: Vollmer Associates

Geotechnical Engineer: Haley & Aldrich

Lighting Design: Mintz Lighting Group