On December 7, 1995, Traylor Bros. was awarded a $30,435,010 emergency design/build contract by the Florida Department of Transportation to replace an ailing twin bridge on Interstate-10 across the Blackwater River, 13 miles east of Pensacola. Traylor was one of only four contractors who were chosen by the FDOT and FHWA to submit a proposal. Our successful bid was based on a fast-track 627-day completion schedule! The project arose from growing concerns by the FDOT with the structural integrity of the existing bridges as a result of excessive settlement and vibrations. Additional scour around the foundation piles that occurred from last fallâs hurricanes, Erin and Opal, accelerated the problem. Sequencing of the project calls for Traylor to construct the new westbound bridge just north of the existing structure. Traffic will then be rerouted to the new bridge and the old bridges demolished. The new eastbound bridge will then be constructed over the same alignment as the old one. After final striping and signing, traffic will be shifted to the final configuration, utilizing both new bridges. The lead designer and Engineer of Record for the Design/Build Team is Finley-McNary Engineers, Inc. of Tallahassee, Florida. Their main focus is the design of all structures--bridge, fender system, and earth-retaining systems. Additionally on the Design/Build Team are Williams Earth Sciences (W.E.S.) of Panama City, Florida--geotechnical services, and Carlan Consulting Group of Pensacola, Florida--roadway design, M.O.T., and environmental services. The bridge design is influenced by the existing bridge conditions, maintenance of evacuation routes, limits of Right of Way, scour due to the tide and current, and sensitivity of the river environment. Also important to the design team was providing an aesthetic, long lived, and cost effective design within the AASHTO and FDOT criteria. The contract includes a geotechnical analysis with borings, scour analysis, settlement monitoring of the existing bridge during pile driving, and a report determining the cause of settlement in the existing bridge. The new twin 2928 lf bridge was designed utilizing 24-inch prestressed concrete piles varying in length from 90 ft to 120 ft. In total, there are 456 production piles. Each new bridge contains 15 river piers between end bents. The footings are typically 28' x 26' x 5' and supported by 15 piles. The navigation channel footings are slightly larger-34' x 16' x 6' with 18 piles in each. All footings are partially submerged, as is the requirement of the FDOT in an extremely aggressive salt water environment. Atop the footings are typical 16' x 4.25' rectangular columns, which reach a maximum height of 34 feet. Hammer-head type caps complete the pier construction. The superstructure will feature steel plate girders which will span the 184-ft pier spacing and support a 48'-0" wide cast-in-place deck. The channel girders will span 220 ft between piers. Traylor has elected to use approximately 175,000 sf of S.I.P. metal decking between girders to speed production of the deck. At the bridge ends, embankment structures will require the use of 18,000 sf of Tensar MSE wall and 14,000 sf of precast slab-and-pile seawall. These will be constructed in conjunction with the 75,000 cy of embankment fill. At the navigation channel, Traylor Bros. will construct a new 300-lf fender system utilizing 14-in prestressed piles and structural timbers. A navigation lighting system and access ladders will be included. The project is well underway. At present, W.E.S. has completed the borings and scour analysis, and is working to complete the pile driving criteria for production pile driving. The first PDA test pile was driven on January 19, 1996, followed by the required two static load tests and PDA test piles at each pier location. The first production pile was driven on February 15, with the footing cast on February 26! The first column pour was poured on March 3. In the upcoming weeks, we will be starting our cap construction, roadway/embankment, and MSE wall casting. We are very fortunate to have assembled an excellent staff of talented individuals. Personnel has come from various Traylor projects/offices, as well as newcomers to the Company.

San Diego South Bay Project

Despite being absent from the last issue of the Traylor newsletter, the South Bay Ocean Outfall Project is alive and well. The $88,285,000 project is located near the international border between the United States and Mexico and consists of a 198 ft deep by 36 ft internal diameter drop shaft, a 19,000 ft by 11 ft internal diameter tunnel, a seafloor riser shaft connecting to the end of the tunnel, and a small structure at the top of the drop shaft. Since Notice to Proceed on September 28, the Joint Venture of Traylor Bros. and Obayashi Corporation has taken full possession of the site, nearly completed all preliminary mobilization tasks, and initiated all major procurements and subcontracts. Early planning is of utmost importance for a tunnel project, and this one is no exception. Because of the nature of this tunnel, under very high pressures in very abrasive materials, there is no room for error in preparing the Tunnel Boring Machine for what lies ahead. This is especially true since most of the tunnel is driven under the Pacific Ocean, and sinking a shaft to repair the machine would be a near impossibility. The TBM is being manufactured by a joint venture between Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Japan, and Boretec, Inc. of Solon, Ohio. It is an Earth Pressure Balanced (EPB) type machine able to bore a 13' diameter tunnel and install 11' inside diameter precast concrete segments. Much of the theory behind the design of this tunnel and TBM is based on experience gained on the St. Clair Tunnel in Sarnia, but here we must be able to handle a much wider range of soil conditions. Geotechnical Reports indicate that we will be encountering areas ranging from mostly gravels, cobbles & boulders to primarily silty clays. Areas of cohesive materials - silts and clays - should be the easiest to mine through and plan for. Much experience was gained from Sarnia in this type of material. The gravels, cobbles & boulders, however, present new challenges. They are very abrasive, and pushing against them as hard as we need to, in an effort to achieve Earth Pressure Balance, could very easily wear away the entire cutterhead. To prevent this catastrophe, the TBM face is being coated with a special wear resitant material that hopefully will extend the cutterhead life. In addition, we will be injecting a 'foam' material developed by our Joint Venture partner in Japan. This foam, similar in consistency to shaving cream, will lubricate the cutterhead, as well as condition the soil to ease removal of the muck from the cutterhead. The tunnel will be lined with precast concrete segments assembled in five pieces behind the TBM. The segments are being manufactured by Sehulster Tunnels/Pre-Con under an $18,000,000 subcontract to Traylor Bros./Obayashi. Sehulster is presently mobilizing their plant in Rancho Cucamonga, California, and production should begin in early June. The 4,800 rings will be delivered by truck to the job over the course of 14 months. The target for the TBM's drive will be a riser shaft installed late this year by Case Foundation, under a $16,000,000 subcontract. They are presently fabricating the steel casing for the shaft, rolled pieces of steel 2" thick, weighing in excess of 400 tons. Once fabricated in San Francisco, the tubes will be floated to San Diego for installation 14,000 ft offshore. Before anything can be done with the TBM and segments, however, we must first get down to tunnel level. We will be sinking a 40' diameter shaft 200' deep out of which the TBM will be launched. In order to excavate through the unstable soils and high water flows, another subcontract was let to Layne-Northwest to freeze the ground around the perimeter of the shaft. Chilled calcium chloride brine solution is circulated through pipes drilled 300' into the ground at temperatures near -22 Deg F. Ground temperatures, when frozen, will be around 5 Deg F. The frozen soil will provide a 'wall' around the shaft excavation, so no other ground support is required. With the freeze plants currently in operation, excavation is expected to begin in early April.

Neuse River Project

Welcome to New Bern, North Carolina, the second oldest city in the State. This historic city is located inland of the Atlantic Ocean by 30 miles at the fork of the Neuse and Trent Rivers. To the East across the Trent River is James City, and to the West, across the Neuse River, is the City of Bridgeton. New Bern is interconnected with each of these cities by low-level two lane bridges. US 70 East connects New Bern to James City and US 17 North carries traffic to Bridgeton. The bridges carry traffic to and from the downtown historic district of New Bern and are highly traveled routes. The bridges have a single swing span bridge for their main channels and are a significant source of traffic congestion. Due to the strategic location of the city, the close proximity of the main highways, and an opportunity to relieve traffic congestion in the townâs historic district, the North Carolina Department of Transportation initiated their largest project for bridge and roadway construction in State history. On October 30, 1995, Traylor Bros. was awarded the largest of three contracts at $93 million to construct an extensive interchange in James City and a causeway spanning the Neuse River from James City to Bridgeton. This project provides numerous challenges, a diversity of construction techniques and is being constructed to metric units. Presently, we are approximately 10% complete which includes driving 305mm piling, large diameter drilled shafts, clear and grub operations and several thousand cubic meters of embankment material. Water operations are mobilized and the drill shaft program is well underway. Significant highlights of this project include: · Excavate, haul, and place 670,000m3 of borrow material into embankment within 12 months · Drive 937 each 305mm p.s. concrete piling · Drill 1,211 each 1,067mm diameter shafts · Drill 222 each 1,219mm diameter shafts · Drill 84 each 1,524mm diameter shafts · Drill 66 each 1,829mm diameter shafts · Place 50,000m3 of substructure concrete · Place 33,000m3 of superstructure concrete · Tie and install 8,200 tons epoxy coated and 3,000 tons black rebar · Erect 12,011m of Type V concrete girders · Erect 11,500 tons of steel girders This equates to 6,007 meters of bridge deck averaging 17 meters wide over 144 spans of girders.

Kansas City Southern R.R. Bridge Demolition

On January 9, 1996, Traylor Bros. successfully competed for the demolition of a 95-year old single span railroad truss bridge and substructure in Alexandria, Louisiana. This project was identified by our crew building the Pineville/Alexandria, Louisiana, Red River Bridge and tracked to bid stage by them. Less than a mile from our current work, this short-term project will complete in less than 90 days. The work consists of removing the five main truss spans over the water, explosively demolishing the piers, and recycling about two miles of track bed. Heaviest lift will be 275 tons. Tom Breeden, Project Manager of the Pineville Project, identified this project, tracked down the engineering firm administering the work, and expedited the invitation from the Kansas City Railroad to allow us to bid. Richard Roth and Larry Owens prepared the bid and had one of those really funny looks on their faces when they were successful. Due to the short nature of the project, Richard Roth will bring from the Houston jobsite most of the craft people to man the job. The successful award of this project is a great example of each Traylor Bros. employee being a marketing manager in their area. Construction is always ongoing in the localities in which we work, and we are certainly going to continue bidding anything that can give us a fair return on our investment.

Cranes, Cranes, and More Cranes

The Traylor Bros.' Shop has simultaneously completed repairs on an American 9225, 125-ton crawler crane, a 4000WV Manitowoc 175-ton crawler crane, and a 4100 WV Manitowoc 200-ton crawler crane. Our shop employees in Evansville represent a multitude of experience and craftmanship in the rebuilding and fabrication of equipment. The 9225 125-ton crawler crane was purchased for the San Diego Outfall Tunnel project. The repairs consisted of taking the crane down to the bare rotating bed and building it back up. After refurbishing all of the components, the crane was equipped with a full width tunnel drum with lagging built for 1" inch wire rope. It was also equipped with a third drum and a special boom point. The crane is designed to meet all federal standards applicable to tunnel work. The 4000WV Manitowoc has been refurbished for the Bluewater Bridge project in Michigan. The repairs consist of the installation of a powerload lowering system, a full width front drum, and repairs to the full width third drum. The crane will be installed in a Manitowoc Series I ring capable of 200-ton capacity. The 4100WV was shipped from the Vilano project in Florida. The boom, counterweights and undercarriage were refurbished and painted in Florida. The house was shipped to Evansville for repairs. This crane will also be installed in a ring assembly with a 300-ton capacity. It, too, is destined for the Bluewater Bridge project. The Shop Fabrication Department is in the process of fabricating the rolling stock for the Los Angeles Metro Red Line project which includes the modification of flat cars that were purchased from the United Kingdom. Other projects are the rehabilitation of the 18 cy muck boxes and the modification and fabrication of two California Switches. The Shop is also fabricating the rolling stock for the San Diego South Bay Ocean Outfall Project. This involves the new fabrication of segment cars, grout cars, muck boxes, and muck dollies. While fabrication for both of these projects are running concurrently, the fabrication department has other projects going on as well: sheet metal fabrication for crane cabs, platforms for manlifts, boom repair; etc. As the photographs indicate, Traylor Bros.'s Shop Fabrication Department is running at full speed to keep up with the time schedules of the tunnel projects and the requirements of all other jobsites. Many of the Shop's fabricators have been with Traylor Bros. for over ten years and have a lifetime of fabrication experience. We salute these men for the hard work they have contributed to our past and present projects.

Los Angeles Tunnel

After twelve months of excavation, ground support, site preparation, TBM remanufacturing and political chaos, tunneling is imminent in Universal City. On January 24, the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) Board of Directors gave us a "Go for Launch", ending 18 months of speculation on the fate of our project. On this date, the MTA set aside all of the partisan squabbling and decided to seize the required easements for our alignment. Since these decisions are always politically driven, there was a price paid for these easements. In order to secure the required number of votes, supportive Board members made several concessions that will directly impact our work; most of which involve the first ever use of explosives in Los Angeles. These compromises include: (1) the shortening of the drill and shoot Seismic Section from 600 lf to 300 lf. This will require an additional 300 lf of TBM excavation; (2) Seismic Section blasting will be restricted to the hours of 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Our original contract allowed for 24-hour blasting; (3) eleven cross-passages that were to be excavated by conventional "drill and shoot" methods must now be excavated by mechanical means; and (4) the La Brea Shaft site will be completely enclosed to remove the sights and sounds of tunnel construction. In addition to the new blasting constrictions, the Board needed to reassure residents of the preservation of the Santa Monica Mountain range above the area. Many homeowners had feared that tunneling would drastically lower the water table, leaving the hills and canyons barren. In an effort to set aside these fears, the MTA Board will be directing us to undertake an extensive drilling and grouting program. The complete scope of this program hasn't been defined yet, although we have been directed to purchase six new drills for the Tunnel Boring Machines. Under a recent change order agreement, Traylor Bros./Frontier-Kemper Joint Venture crews have begun work that was originally part of two other contracts. Change orders have increased the original contract value up to more than $127 million. Due to schedule constraints and contractual difficulties, the Owner has transferred work from the B251 and C301 contracts to us. This work includes the removal of two tunneling shields, repairs to the initial support of the Hollywood Boulevard tunnels, and installation of construction facilities at the La Brea Shaft site.

Traylor Bros. Vol. 8, No. 3 Fall 1996 EDITORS: MARGIE BERNICK & CYNTHIA GRIFFITH