OasisLMS

Abstract: The rehabilitation and widening of a 2100 ft. long, 15-span bridge located along the I-81 Northbound and Southbound bridges over the CSX railyard in Syracuse, NY, is a pivotal infrastructure upgrade to enhance accessibility and mobility within the city. The project scope included widening of the existing bridges from two-lane to three-lane roadway and required installation of new pile foundation right next to the existing bridge pile foundation.

Six (6) of the bridge piers are located within the CSX-railyard and required construction staging in coordination with the CSX personnel to ensure that construction did not disrupt rail traffic. The project site is located very close to wetland areas on both sides of the bridge alignment and has limited access.

In addition to the construction challenges, foundation design had its own challenges including (a) Subsurface soil profile with a very soft clayey soil layer extending to a depth of 60 ft. below the existing ground elevation (b) Heavy structural loading requirements due to large spans of 196 ft. and 30 ft. high piers, (c) Eccentric loading due to horizontal roadway alignment (d) Proximity of existing bridge piles within 3 ft. from the new piles (e) Modification of existing embankment with lightweight fill to keep the increased loading on existing piles within allowable capacity (f) Structural and Geotechnical Evaluation of existing cast-in-place existing piles in a combined pile foundation design along with the new steel pipe piles (g) Evaluation of settlement of the existing piles and the new piles and modifying the pile lengths to keep the differential settlement within limits.

The design challenges and construction issues required innovative design solutions which included use of light weight fill material, temporary GRES-wall application, design revisions by placing fixed and elastic bearings at optimal pier locations, instrumentation to monitor vibration and settlements.

Eshana Kolli; Mr. Ram Kasturi

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