LAND: $500,000 TO $2 MILLION
By Steven Hoefgen, Pacific Pile & Marine
For a bridge replacement in Monroe, Wash., Pacific Pile &
Marine (PPM) installed sheet piles to construct a temporary
cofferdam for the shoring process before installing
36 structural steel pile to support the new structure.
The completed bridge is a three-span, 206-foot long structure
supported by driven steel piles with cast-in-place footings and columns,
precast girders and cast-in-place deck and railing.
First challenge: Overhead utilities
In the project location, PPM had to contend with overhead power
and communication lines that ran adjacent and parallel to the
bridge. Prior to construction, the utility companies relocated these
lines from the west side of the bridge to the east side, with the
plan of accommodating the new construction. Once construction
began, however, crews discovered that the overhead utilities were
closer to the work than the allowable distance set by Labor and
Industries mandated crane safe working distance.
PPM worked with Snohomish County Public Works (the project
Owner) to develop a plan for a temporary shutdown of the
overhead utilities in order to conduct the work encroaching the
minimum safe working distance required for a portion of the cofferdam
sheets to be installed and a second shutdown for them to
be removed.
Initially, the project team anticipated that several shutdowns
were going to be required for the work to be completed; however,
PPM was able to complete each phase of work in a single nighttime
shift for both the installation and removal of the most critical
sheets. This provided relief to not only the surrounding residents,
but also to a nearby major aggregate and concrete facility.
Continued on page 62
Photos courtesy of Pacific Pile & Marine
Pacific Pile & Marine
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