Mathews Bridge Emergency Repair
When a ship struck Florida’s Mathews Bridge in 2013, a critical chord in the steel structure was severed — making collapse imminent for a major thoroughfare that carries about 56,000 vehicles a day. Our team of construction professionals worked in tandem with nearly 200 other experts on this unprecedented emergency repair project for the Florida Department of Transportation.
Emergency repairs included:
- Jacking system
- Removal and replacement of the connection plate
- Stub beam installation
- New lower chord member installation
- Cheese place and gusset installation
- Final load transfer
October 29, 2013
Excellence in Production Work, 2014 – Florida Transportation Commission (FTC)
Outstanding Public Award , 2014 – Florida Institute of Consulting Engineers (FICE)
The Work
Work began immediately on the temporary support, with crews operating day and night on this fast-track project. We used an air winch in place of a crane due to equipment and weight restrictions on the bridge. Once the strongback, Dywidag bars, saddles, and fortresses were systematically put in place, we performed bar stressing as the system was incrementally post-tensioned, with pauses to check the geometry of the bridge.
After we raised preassembled scaffolding into place and secured from below the bridge, we began permanent repairs. We removed the sheared bottom chord in three-foot increments via the air winch. We lowered members, a guest plate, and a lateral brace onto our barge. Sections of existing steel were repaired through the use of heat-straightening before installation of new steel. Ingenuity led us to remove existing fill plates — an extremely challenging task due to proximity of the impact — and then split the replacement chords into sections for easier installation. A new sub beam, bolting, and a new cheese plate and outside gusset plate, which required installation without removal of the old one, secured the substantial repair work.
Project Gallery
