A new portion of the Freeport, Texas Wharf was meant to allow an additional two container ships to be unloaded each day. However, before it was put into service, the entire 800 foot by 109 foot wharf began sliding into the shipping channel. GeoPrac sponsor Nicholson Construction was tasked with installing 30 multi-strand soil anchors to stabilize the wharf. The anchors were each 140 feet long and encased in Class I corrosion protection because of the aggressive environment. The design loads up to 150 kips were achieved in the soft clay. The wharf is now stabilized and final repairs are being made before it opens to ship traffic. [Source: Nicholson Construction Company. Image: Nicholson Construction]
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Nicholson Completes Emergency Work on Indiana’s I-65
PITTSBURGH, PA – Nicholson Construction recently completed emergency repair work to an unstable pier supporting a bridge on INDOT’s Interstate 65. These repairs enabled a 37-mile section of the highway’s northbound lanes to be reopened after a four-week closure.
The highway was in the process of being rehabilitated and widened when the pier was damaged by steel piles driven into the water tight ground below it. The pier began to settle and eventually rotated ten inches.
Nicholson developed a design-build solution that used micropiles to transfer the loads to more stable soils and low-mobility grouting to fill voids and densify the upper subsurface layer.
[Editor] Read on to hear more about Nicholson’s fix of this unstable bridge pier. [/Editor]