Fletcher Avenue over Hillsborough River
the wall was structurally compromised . A hole roughly 20 feet wide , 40 feet long , and 10 feet deep had formed under the approach roadway and slab at the east end of the bridge .
Within minutes the inspectors realized that the westbound lanes needed to be closed and notified County , City , and state agency representatives .
“ It ’ s a state waterway , a County bridge , and another agency ’ s water main – a perfect storm ,” said Rick Maslyn , Ayres ’ structural inspection supervisor and a certified bridge inspector . Closing part of this roadway wasn ’ t a decision anyone took lightly – Fletcher Avenue has an average annual daily traffic ( AADT ) of 35,500 vehicles a day and is the main access route to one of the largest hospitals in Tampa as well as the University of South Florida . The situation made the local news .
“ Ayres was very responsive and very quick to send inspectors ,” Al-Rawashdeh said . “ The evaluation report described the conditions encountered and how much it would cost to fix , and then they started creating design plans , plus plans to reroute the traffic .”
Ayres contract manager Hisham Sunna said the design was ready in a couple days , the contractors completed repairs in two weeks , and the final construction punch list required to reopen the westbound lanes was ready on September 9 . The repaired roadway opened the week before Hurricane Irma stormed through the region . “ The repairs held up then and continue to hold up ,” Sunna said .
A seamless team for every need
While emergencies like the Fletcher Avenue project can be exciting , “ we also do things that aren ’ t in the news ,” Sunna said , such as designing scour countermeasures , designing cathodic protection of bridge piles to control corrosion , or evaluating sheetpile walls that need to be cleaned and coated .
12 | TRENDS Ingenuity , Integrity , and Intelligence .