Carolina Bays Parkway, USA, nears halfway mark
Construction on this $240 million design/build project on the northern coast of South Carolina is nearing the halfway mark. Of the 25 bridges on the project, three are 100 percent complete. The rest of the bridges are under construction at this time.
Pile driving will be finished by September 2001. The largest swamp bridge was just finished three weeks ahead of schedule. It crosses the Socastee Swamp and consists of 18 spans, each 40 feet long. The 720-foot-long structure was built using top-down construction. It was designed in-house and is supported on permanent piers. The current focus of the fast-track project is the opening of phase one between the Conway Bypass Interchange and the Highway 17/Grissom Parkway Interchange. The final bridges in this portion of the project are scheduled for completion by the end of September 2001.
Currently crews are focusing on fine-grading the roadway in preparation for paving. Roadway construction remains in the critical path of this project, and will continue to be so until completion of the project. Local subcontractors are performing all roadway construction and paving activities.
The 20-mile-long project is a joint venture between Flatiron Structures [part of HBG Constructors] and Tidewater Constructors, called Palmetto Transportation Company. The project skirts around protected wetlands called 'bays' and will provide badly needed highway in this rapidly growing area.
The main span girder is being erected at the Robert Grissom Parkway crossing of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. This is the main connecting corridor of the Carolina Bays Parkway to Myrtle Beach. This bridge consists of three spans of 150 feet, and two spans of 75 feet. Weighing 100 tons, the girders were delivered from the on site precasting yard by truck. Crews loaded the girders onto a barge and set them in place with a 9299 American ringer crane.