Following
the completion of wick drain installations, crews are placing the additional
foot of sand over wick drains and continuing to place additional lifts of
surcharge material. The surcharge material will be placed to an elevation
of approximately five feet above final proposed road elevations. This
material will provide the weight necessary to consolidate the underlying soils,
while the wick drains relieve pore pressures speeding up the consolidation
settlement process. The surcharge material is expected to require a time-frame of six months to allow acceptance of consolidation settlement.
Once accepted, that material will be removed and utility lines installed and
the new roadway established.
Along
the new section of Congress Street at General McIntosh Boulevard, crews are
preparing for the placement of asphalt and will be continuing to install
additional curb and gutter and sidewalk along General McIntosh Boulevard.
Crews
continue to jack and bore steel casings underneath the railroad tracks and
future Bilbo Canal, just south of President Street and west of Truman
Parkway. Recent rainfall has slowed progress of these bores due to the
low lying location they are located in. In addition to continuous
dewatering of the bore pit, excessive ground water lateral pressures have
required additional shoring of the excavated pit.
Construction continues on the new reinforced concrete Bilbo
Canal walls. Crews have begun the eastern canal wall. Currently 65’
plum and battered steel H-piles are being driven within a sheet pile shored
excavation for the reinforced concrete wall foundation support. Once
these H-piles are driven, rebar will be tied for the walls concrete footer, and
poured.
Upcoming work will include the closure of a section of
Randolph Street just south of President Street. This closure is required
for crews to pothole, locate, and identify critical tie-in points for future
sewer connections.
