US Wick Drain of Leland North Carolina recently completed the world’s largest marine barge wick drain installation…over 12 MILLION linear feet. The wick drains will allow timely consolidation of marine sediments supporting dikes for the new Craney Island Port in Norfolk, Virginia. The equipment was installed with APE wick drain installation machines through steel pipe-lined holes in the barge. Engineers predict 21 feet of settlement once the wick drains are preloaded. [Source: APE News via National Driller. Image: APE News (Backus Aerial Photography)]
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Scary: Things that go bump…at the end of the bridge
[Update 2008-11-03] The Link to the Journal’s homepage requires you to purchase the article. Too bad. Try the CDOT report instead I guess. [/Update]
First off, sorry for the cheesy Halloween tie-in. The other day I read an interesting paper in the Journal of the Transportation Research Record, No. 2045, of the Transportation Research Board (TRB). The paper was titled: “Evaluation and Recommendations for Flowfill, and Mechanically Stabilized Earth Bridge Approaches.” I’ll post the full citation below. (Photo from FHWA NHI Soils and Foundation Course Slides, NHI Course No. 132012)
The authors describe the standard of practice for Colorado DOT (CDOT) projects for the last 16 years with regard to the construction of bridge approaches in an attempt to eliminate the problem with the “bump at the end of the bridge”. They discuss some of the common reasons for problems with approaches, and some possible solutions. Click through for more.