ACEC-SC hosted the Engineering Excellence Gala on February 7, 2017 at the Columbia Museum of Art. ICE was recognized as an Engineering Excellence Award winner in the “Small Project, $500,000 – $2 Million” category for the Perryclear Bridge Replacement in Beaufort County, SC. Additionally, ICE was recognized as an ACEC Finalist and received an Engineering Excellence Award in the category of “Structural Systems, $2 Million – $10 Million” for the U.S. 176 Emergency Bridge Replacement over Cannons Creek in Newberry County (owned by SCDOT).
Project Executive Summaries:
Perryclear Bridge Replacement – Beaufort County, SC | Originally constructed in 1965, this 140-foot timber-pile bridge over Mulligan Creek had undergone replacement and repair of its structural support timbers on two occasions over the years. When an annual South Carolina Department of Transportation inspection report recommended reducing the safe load capacity of the bridge to 10 tons (less than the weight of a modern fire truck), Beaufort County Council identified replacement of the bridge as a key project. The bridge serves the Perryclear Community in the Grays Hill area adjacent to the Marine Corps Air Station. As this route is the sole means of ingress and egress for approximately 36 property owners, access had to be provided throughout the period of construction with a single lane of traffic kept open at all times. Beaufort County wanted a bridge that required little or no maintenance, kept construction inside the right of way and had little or no effect on the environment. The Design-Build team of United Infrastructure Group and Infrastructure Consulting & Engineering (ICE) were selected upon providing the best solution at the most competitive price with their proposal to replace the existing bridge with a two span structure 140 feet long and 27 feet wide, SCDOT Bridge Maintenance Pre-Stressed Concrete Voided Box Standard Bridge. This design alternate resulted in six value engineering ideas that reduced the contract price by $173,000 for Beaufort County. The bridge was completed within the allotted time and exceeded all of the owner’s expectations.
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US 176 Emergency Bridge Replacement over Cannons Creek – Newberry County, SC | The October 2015 historic rainfall and flood event caused flash flooding across much of southeast South Carolina. The event culminated when numerous rivers overtopped their banks, impacting thousands of homes and businesses. The flood waters also damaged many of the areas roads and bridges causing significant traffic disruptions. The South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) immediately began making emergency assessments of the state’s infrastructure, closing an unprecedented number of failed roads and bridges. The US 176 bridge over Cannons Creek, originally constructed in 1949, collapsed when the middle interior bents were completely undermined as a result of the raging flood waters. Replacement of this bridge was crucial for the Newberry County community it served including Pomaria-Garmany Elementary School, located less than 1,000 feet from the south end of the bridge. SCDOT issued a Request for Proposal for the Emergency Design-Build Replacement Project and awarded the contract to the Design-Build team of United Infrastructure Group, Inc. (UIG) and Infrastructure Consulting & Engineering, PLLC (ICE). The Design-Build team was selected because of providing the best solution at the most competitive price. Their proposal employed innovative design and construction solutions that met SCDOT’s request for expedited design, review, approval and construction in 159 days. The SCDOT was pleased with both the design and construction of the replacement of the US 176 bridge over Cannons Creek. Not only did the UIG/ICE team meet budget requirements, they also completed the project 18 days ahead of schedule and opened the bridge to traffic on March 11, 2016.
