overpass created a safer, more enjoyable path and opened
the trail to more vulnerable users like families with small
children or people with limited mobility.
When money became available through the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the County used the
design-build method to accelerate the project. Ayres
Associates teamed with contractor American Bridge and
completed the project quickly – opening the bridge three
months ahead of schedule while meeting all the important
objectives of the project.
“We had a number of goals with this project,” said
Ayres Associates Project Manager Hisham Sunna. “First,
the structure had to clear the entire roadway with no
12│TRENDS
columns in the way to allow for future widening. Second,
it had to do this in an economical way – we had to save
money and provide value wherever we could. And lastly,
the design required a lot of aesthetic considerations because
it had to blend into the natural environment.”
The size of the structure proved to be the biggest
challenge. The total project length was 735 feet, and the
main span was 170 feet long, making it the longest simplespan precast concrete pedestrian bridge in Florida.
“Our other options would have been to either go to
the next biggest structure size or to use steel beams,”
said Ivan Gualtero, Ayres Associates’ structural engineer.
“Either option would have cost more money. Instead, we