Federal transportation enhancement
funding financed the $14.6 million
project.
Steve Norton, a project engineer
with American Bridge, the designbuild contractor for the project, finds
great satisfaction in hearing positive
comments about the completed trail
bridge – a project that tested him and
his crews with an aggressive schedule.
“Being late wasn’t an option,” Norton
said. “We threw all our resources at it
and worked seven days a week, many
weeks in a row. We did what it took to
finish the job.”
Sticking to the schedule
The project Request for Proposal
allowed a maximum of 650 days
for design and construction. The
design-build team proposed an
aggressive 450 days. Weekly project
meetings occurred on the design and
construction sides, and reviews were
performed quickly and efficiently
12│TRENDS
Safety First
The Courtney Campbell
Multiuse Trail Bridge, open
only to non-vehicular traffic,
provides a safer and more
recreationally based travel
alternative across Old Tampa
Bay. Although the structure
has been open less than a
year, it’s already reducing
pedestrian-bicycle-vehicle
crashes in this corridor.
The Florida Department of
Transportation has developed
a Pedestrian Safety Action
Plan, which includes a
commitment to reducing
pedestrian fatalities by 20% in
2015. The new trail bridge is a
component of that plan.
with direct dialogue between Ayres
and FDOT. On the construction side,
scheduling of activities had to account
for a variety of constraints, such
as high tide, nesting seasons, the
Republican National Convention, and
the havoc created by Tropical Storm
Andrea.
“When you have a tropical storm
come through, two things happen –
the wind blows, and the tide goes up,”
Norton said, explaining how floating
equipment like barges and cranes
had to be moved into shallower
water or a protected harbor, and any
water-sensitive materials on land
had to be taken to higher ground or
removed all together. “So any time
there was a storm coming, we had to
stop everything we were doing and
relocate pieces of equipment. It takes
time to prepare, and then it takes
time to undo everything and get back
to work.”