Trevor Carroll, NCDOT engineer explains the construction process of the new Surf City bridge Tuesday morning, Trevor Carroll, PE, Resident Engineer, and Kevin Bowen, PE, Division Construction Engineer from the NC Department of Transportation gave the club an update on the status of construction of the new bridge in Surf City that is being built to replace the aging swing bridge, we have all known for decades. As Mr. Bowen mentioned this bridge will be the envy of communities up and down our coast as it incorporates some unique features in the design. These features include a dedicated 10 ft wide multi-purpose path for walkers, joggers, and baby strollers (No doubt 'no fishing' from the bridge, but who knows?) that will separate traffic from pedestrians with a concrete barrier along the length of the bridge. Also, there will be marked-off bike lanes, 7.5 ft wide going in both directions with traffic which will provide a safe separation of bike riders and traffic. As people in many communities become less dependent on their cars and more and more oriented towards exercise and protecting the environment with low-carbon producing activities, the new design is a perfect way to link Surf City on Topsail Island with the every growing commercial and residential area of Surf City on the mainland.
Another unique feature of the new design is NO stop lights at either end of the bridge. This will be accomplished with 'roundabouts' at each end of the bridge, a relatively new traffic feature in North Carolina but common in other states as well as Europe and the UK. The roundabouts keep traffic flowing so that back ups are reduced for heavy traffic on major thoroughfares yet allow vehicles on 'side streets' equal opportunity to join the traffic flow.
We saw a unique simulation video of the entire project in the post from YouTube below. Note that the simulation was produced before construction started so some features in the actual bridge are different than in the simulation. Can you spot them?
Click here to watch the YouTube video.
Next, Mr. Carroll gave a slide presentation of the actual project and construction status pointing out some technical engineering challenges as well as some of the 'on the ground' issues that had to be overcome as the project progressed.
Click this link surf-city-bridge-replacement-ncdot.pdf to watch the slide presentation.
Note: Some of the beautiful aerial pictures were taken by our own Jeff Wenzel of AboveTopsail.com
Another unique feature of the new design is NO stop lights at either end of the bridge. This will be accomplished with 'roundabouts' at each end of the bridge, a relatively new traffic feature in North Carolina but common in other states as well as Europe and the UK. The roundabouts keep traffic flowing so that back ups are reduced for heavy traffic on major thoroughfares yet allow vehicles on 'side streets' equal opportunity to join the traffic flow.
We saw a unique simulation video of the entire project in the post from YouTube below. Note that the simulation was produced before construction started so some features in the actual bridge are different than in the simulation. Can you spot them?
Click here to watch the YouTube video.
Next, Mr. Carroll gave a slide presentation of the actual project and construction status pointing out some technical engineering challenges as well as some of the 'on the ground' issues that had to be overcome as the project progressed.
Click this link surf-city-bridge-replacement-ncdot.pdf to watch the slide presentation.
Note: Some of the beautiful aerial pictures were taken by our own Jeff Wenzel of AboveTopsail.com