U.S. HIGHWAY 90 BRIDGES ACROSS BILOXI BAY

Biloxi, Mississippi

This award-winning design-build project for the Mississippi Department of Transportation consisted of removing and replacing the U.S. Highway 90 Bridge across Biloxi Bay, which was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. The project included the design and construction of a 1.6-mile-long divided bridge, providing six lanes of traffic across the bay on a nearly parallel alignment to the old bridge. Work included the demolition and removal of the existing bridge and roadway debris. It also included the demolition and replacement of an 800-foot-long bridge over the CSX Transportation Railroad and associated embankment, roadway, and electrical items. In addition to the bridge scope, the project included reconstruction of the foreshore protection along the bay's shore.

This project required the use of 20 floating cranes, six land-based cranes, and an average of 240 personnel working six days a week. This large equipment fleet was mobilized quickly because the majority of the equipment was owned by the joint venture partners, with much of it in the gulf coast region. The work included driving 105,000 feet of concrete piling, installing 10 million pounds of reinforcing steel, erecting 90,000 feet of precast concrete girders, and placing 72,000 cubic yards of structural concrete. Waterline footings required sealing of footing forms around driven piles and dewatering of the forms to place concrete footings.

In only 17 months after contract award, soil borings, geotechnical design, bridge design, all permitting, test pile program, access dredging, and complete construction of one of the bridges across the bay was complete. The project team achieved a very aggressive schedule and completed the project 45 days early. Completion of the second bridge and all associated work for final acceptance was completed just 22 months after the contract award. The utilization of resources by the joint venture partners and the partnering relationship with MDOT and FHWA made this possible.