In the first two-year contract , Ayres provided more than 50 structural and hydraulic reviews , emergency evaluations , bridge designs , preliminary engineering reports , scour evaluations , bridge replacement studies , and permitting with the Southwest Florida Water Management District and U . S . Army Corps of Engineers . Tight timelines are normal for these assignments , especially for projects involving an emergency response like what was required for the Fletcher Avenue bridge over the Hillsborough River .
Emergency response protects the public
That project , Ayres ’ first emergency assignment under the 2017 asset management contract , began August 22 , 2017 , when a passerby walking along busy Fletcher Avenue in Tampa noticed a large hole adjacent to the bridge abutment on the east side of the Hillsborough River .
The bridge is only about a mile from Ayres ’ Hidden River Parkway office in Tampa , and inspectors were on the scene quickly after the County called . They found that a local agency ’ s water main had been punctured , and water spewing from the pipe had eroded the base of the bridge ’ s mechanically stabilized earth ( MSE ) wing walls and approach slab along Fletcher Avenue ’ s westbound lanes .
Ayres structural engineer David Johnson explained that MSE walls are held in place by tie-back straps that extend horizontally behind the wall in layers . Friction and tension between the soil and the straps hold the walls in place . When the backfill began leaking out ,
10 | TRENDS Ingenuity , Integrity , and Intelligence .