HOORAY FOR FIXING BUMP!

Ahem.

January 9 2015 UPDATE:

Friends:

I hope that all of you have had a safe and enjoyable holiday season. Now it’s back to work and back to our Lesner Bridge Project updates!

The cold temperatures and blustery winds aren’t helping, but work on the new westbound (WB) bridge and temporary bulkhead began again this past Monday (1/5/2015) after the holiday break. Also, form work for the first bridge segments have been assembled at the casting yard in Portsmouth (Atlantic Metrocast Inc. next to the Jordan Bridge). The steel reinforcement on several of the new bridge segments have been tied and pouring of the first concrete segment will begin in approximately one week (see photo below). [Note: The new Lesner Bridge will have a similar appearance as the Jordan Bridge shown in the background.]

Now some quick notes on the latest construction progress:

Ø Construction of the new bridge abutment “A” located on the west side of the new WB bridge has been completed.

Ø The foundation cap for Pier #1 (first pier located east of Abutment A) has been completed. Steel reinforcement and formwork for the support column that is being built on this cap is now being assembled and will be in place by the end of next week .

Ø The foundation cap for Pier #2 (second pier located east of Abutment A) is now being constructed. Steel reinforcement and formwork for the foundation cap is currently being placed and readied for the scheduled concrete pour on Monday, January 12, 2015.

Ø Installation of drilled shafts at Pier #3 continues. One of the five shafts for this foundation has been completed. Work on the second shaft began on Wednesday (1/07/2015), and will be completed by tomorrow, Saturday the 10th. The remaining drilled shafts for this pier is scheduled to be complete by 1/23/2015.

Ø Work on the WB bridge approach in front of 3556 On the Bay condos (Shore Drive/East Stratford Street) continues. The concrete retaining wall, utilities, and temporary wire wall are all being installed – concurrently – at this location. It is expected that both the temporary wire wall (next to WB Shore Drive) and the new textured concrete retaining wall will be completed by Wednesday of next week (1/14/2015). Once these items are completed, the contractor will begin installing the new 16-inch water main up to the new bridge abutment. Some utility work will be needed in the intersection of East Stratford Street and Shore Drive as part of this new water main tie-in and construction. Once we have a schedule for this this utility work we will send out another update.

Ø Work on the WB bridge approach next to the old Duck-In property (Shore Drive/Page Avenue) also continues. A portion of the concrete footing for the new retaining wall has been poured and the area prepared for the placement of the pre-cast concrete retaining wall panels. The first of these textured concrete retaining wall panels will be installed at this location on or about January 14, 2015.

Ø The developer of the Duck-In site is currently constructing a seawall as part of their new development for the property. Where this private seawall meets the City’s right-of-way, the City will extend the seawall under the new bridges and tie into the existing bulkhead located on the south side of the bridges at the Virginia Pilots Association. The City’s bridge contractor has recently installed a portion of the City’s seawall between the existing WB Lesner bridge and the private seawall. The remainder of the City’s seawall will be installed once both existing bridges are demolished.

Ø As many of you have noticed over the past month there have been several lane closures on westbound Shore Drive between Page Avenue and East Stratford Street. Several of these closures were needed to repair several portions of the temporary concrete barrier service and others were needed to remove the sand that had accumulated on the roadway. We have asked the contractor to provide better notice of these daytime lane closures so that we can better inform you of these events. There was a single lane closure on both eastbound and westbound Shore Drive between Page Avenue and East Stratford Street today between the hours of 9:00 AM and 3:00 PM. The bridge contractor was repairing several potholes that have developed on Shore Drive. Time permitting, he was also going to re-stripe the temporary pavement markings that have faded over the past few months.

Ø The City will be addressing bump on eastbound Shore Drive, located in the outside lane at the Vista Circle intersection (just before Starbucks®). We are waiting for the cost estimate from the Public Works annual service contractor so that we can prepare the work order and schedule this work. We expect this estimate sometime next week. We will provide an update of when this work will be performed as soon as we get the schedule from the paving contractor. Essentially, we will mill out the EB portion of the intersection and then overlay with asphalt to match the existing elevation of the concrete turn lane at Vista Circle to remove this bump.

Lastly, the construction of the temporary bulkhead at the Lynnhaven Dredge Material Storage Site (LDMSS) is nearing completion. All of the concrete cap for this bulkhead will be completed next week. Dredging in front of this temporary bulkhead will likely begin the last week of January and will be coordinated with the City’s annual Crab Creek dredging maintenance contractor.

That’s it for now. Have a great weekend, and please drive safely!

-Chris

Christopher J. Wojtowicz, P.E.
Project Manager
City of Virginia Beach
Department of Public Works
Municipal Center-Bldg 2
2405 Court House Drive
Virginia Beach, VA 23456-9031
Phone: (757) 385-5785
Fax: (757) 385-5668
email: cwojtowi@vbgov.com

Screen shot of construction cam photo taken at 1215 JUL14 2014 12:15pm. The first photo!