New Indian River Inlet Bridge Construction Update As 2009 Comes To A Close

Rehoboth Beach -- The Department of Transportation and Skanska USA Civil Southeast, Inc. note that November and December 2009 were especially productive for the construction crews working on the new Indian River Inlet Bridge.

The following are some of the activities that were accomplished over the last couple of months and a look at what is to come in early 2010:

-All pile drivings have been completed and found to have acceptable capacity levels

-Construction on the approach foundations began and is well underway

-Forming of the edge girders for the cable stay spans has begun. The first edge girder casting is scheduled for late January.

-The first four floor beams for the cable stay superstructure have been erected on the temporary steel false work, and four more will follow on the north side before Christmas. On the south side, floor beams will be erected after Christmas.

-Off site fabrication has begun for the steel anchor boxes. The cable stay anchor boxes will be installed in January.

-The first delivery of the form traveler will arrive by New Year's Day from Hong Kong. Ultimately, 34 containers will be delivered and then assembled on site at the Skanska construction yard. The form traveler will start to be used in late spring

-Erection and construction of the four pylon towers continues, along with shoring and false work

-The north and south bridge side abutments have been partially constructed, marking the ends of the bridge adjacent to the approach embankments, and rebar is in place. The south side has made similar progress although the abutments are not as far along

-The superstructure will be built on the temporary false work that was recently put in place. Several cast-in-place concrete footings for the approach spans have been completed. Four foot diameter concrete columns are now being cast on the footings.

-Site tours for various universities, colleges and public school groups were conducted providing a closer look and better understanding of the bridge construction. Site tours will resume in early spring 2010

-The www.irib.deldot.gov website has been expanded to provide more educational opportunities for students, teachers and parents in learning about the bridge, its components and construction

DelDOT and Skanska look forward to spring 2010 (and nicer weather) in order to provide an informational workshop and site tour to the public. This will be an excellent opportunity to see the great deal of progress being made on site.

We encouraged you to visit the web site, Indian River Inlet Bridge Project for updates or obtain general project information.