Crews Preserve History, Erect $11M Bridge in Danville, PA

Wed February 13, 2002
Mary Reed

Three bridges linking the boroughs of Danville and Riverside, PA, have shared a common fate over the course of the past 150 years or so — that of falling prey to the elements in most spectacular fashions.

Danville’s first wooden bridge was built in 1829 but destroyed by flooding 23 years later. A similar disaster carried off its second bridge in 1875, although in the latter case it was another bridge being swept downriver that carried it away. A third wooden bridge lasted until 1904, when it was destroyed by an ice flood.

The seven span steel truss bridge opened the following years has just be replaced, but in a much more orderly fashion.

According to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT), the Danville-Riverside Bridge project was first mooted in 1982 when, during routine bridge inspection and maintenance, the department discovered that the existing bridge had become structurally substandard. In addition, its lack of shoulders and narrow traffic lanes in conjunction with poor sight distances meant it was downgraded to “functionally obsolete.”

However, it was not until 1997 that final approval for a new bridge was issued by the Federal Highway Administration (F HWA). Because the bridge is located in the heart of the Danville and Riverside historic district, special care was necessary to preserve not only the visual appearance of the area, but also the structural integrity of the district’s buildings, many of which are on the National Register. These factors meant that it was necessary for more than 90 properties to be inspected before construction could begin, while during construction vibration monitoring ensured the least impact possible on properties near the work site. After the bridge project was completed, a second inspection was carried out to ensure that all was well.

In addition, a community design group participated in aesthetic decisions concerning the project. It was responsible for the selection of weathering steel haunched girders for the bridge. The final design called for cut stone surface treatment to the bridge’s six piers as well as its abutments and parapets. Decorative pylons at its approaches — the southern in Riverside and the northern Danville — and decorative lighting grace the structure itself.

According to PennDOT, the funding ratio for both parts of the project was 80 percent federal and 20 percent state.

The Bridge

In June 1998 the $11.6- million bridge contract was awarded to Susquehanna Supply Company, based in Williamsport, PA. The company, which has built eight major bridges over the North and West branches of the Susquehanna River in the past 15 years, began work on the Danville bridge in July 1998.

Nineteen subcontractors were involved in building the 1,440 ft. (438.9 m) long continuous composite steel girder seven span bridge, which carries State Route 54 traffic across the Susquehanna River’ North Branch.

“The main workhorse used for this project was a Manitowoc 4000 150-ton crawler crane,” said Jim Parsons, Susquehanna Supply Company engineer and estimator. “It was primarily used to set the cofferdam frame, which was 80 by 30 ft. with two wales, and to set and strip the pier stem forms, which measured 60 ft. long by 30 ft. high and weighed approximately 56,000 lbs. The secondary unit used was a Link-Belt HC-218 82-ton truck-mounted lattice boom crane, which was used to drive piles, help set the cofferdam frames and form, strip and pour the smaller pier caps.”

Susquehanna Supply also utilized a Link-Belt HSP 8018 18-ton (16.2 t) rough-terrain crane and a Grove TMS 300 35-ton (31.5 t) hydraulic truck crane for support of the other cranes and to build the smaller abutments.

“The rock causeway was placed across the river, half at a time, using a Caterpillar 973 crawler loader,” Parsons said, “and it was moved using this unit, Caterpillar 325 and 235 hydraulic excavators, Mack and Brockway dump trucks and off-road Euclid R27 back dumps.”

One or two difficulties arose during construction.

“The biggest problem encountered with the bridge was one common to most river projects: Mother Nature,” said Parsons. “We lost the entire first winter of 1998-1999 — approximately three months — due to high water because when the water came up over the causeway, it stayed up until spring. This put us behind schedule as we had anticipated working on the piers during that period. However, the fall of 1999 remained mild and we managed to regain some of this time by getting the deck poured out by mid-December.”

Despite these delays, the project, originally scheduled to be completed by May 1, 2000, saw the bridge opened to traffic on July 21, 2000, leaving landscaping and other minor work to be done in spring by Susquehanna Supply.

“But an even bigger headache was the roadway approach work on the south end in Riverside Borough,” Parsons recalled. “This was due to the high volume of traffic. Long delays occurred for the traveling public as we excavated, placed subbase, and placed bituminous pavement.

Often times we were down to one lane, one-way traffic with the use of multiple flagpersons. The south end required a new alignment and grade change and included a major intersection with a railroad crossing. In addition, two streets, another small state highway, drives and businesses were within this 1,000 ft. of approach on Route 54.”

A third unforeseen problem involved a trio of utility companies, namely Pennsylvania Power & Light, Bell Telephone and CATV, a cable TV company. “We installed conduits, both on the bridge and in the roadway, the three utilities installed their cables in the conduits and, once the new lines were functional, took down their overhead wires and poles. This meant removing numerous overhead wires and poles before road work could continue, but these could not be removed until the new lines were installed,” Parsons explained. “Fortunately, due to the completion of the deck in December 1999, the utilities were able to perform most of this work over the winter when we were unable to do any of the weather-restrictive roadway work.”

Parsons praised the coordination efforts accomplished through biweekly meetings among PennDOT, the utility companies, Danville and Riverside boroughs and G. A. & F. C. Wagman, who handled the Cut and Cover part of the project. These meetings were open to the public and many attendees contributed positive input, he noted. “Through these meetings, potential problems were recognized and the multitude of construction operations controlled to keep inconveniences to a minimum,” he said. Public input and comment also was obtained for the project via a dedicated telephone hot-line.

Susquehanna Supply Company was incorporated in 1920 as a building material supply company, with a ready-mix concrete operation added during the 1930s. Current owner Tim Crotty purchased the business approximately 30 years ago and has continued in the ready-mix concrete business as well as also establishing a construction division. After its move from its original location to its current location within the city of Williamsport, Susquehanna Supply set up a newer central mix concrete plant in addition to the old transit mix plant. Its work for private industry centers mainly on pile driving, both bearing and sheet piles, and related concrete work. Most of its construction projects are done with PennDOT, accounting for 90 to 95 percent of job volume.

The company has received several Excellence in Highway Design Awards from PennDOT for bridge projects involving multiple span structures in north-central Pennsylvania. Of particular note among these projects is the bridge carrying the Appalachian Trail over Swatara Creek. This Lebanon County job was the second part of a bridge replacement project in Waterville, in the Pine Creek Valley of Lycoming County, PA. The job included dismantling an existing lenticular truss, refurbishing the members and reerecting the thru-truss in Lebanon County.

Another bridge, across Loyalsock Creek in Sullivan County’s World’s End State Park, involved a simulated laid stone architectural pattern incorporated into its concrete, which was then stained to match surrounding rock formations. Past projects also include the 1,200 ft. (365.7 m) long Hepburn Street Dam built for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources in Williamsport, not far from the company’s plant.

Approximately 23 of the company’s employees were involved in building the Danville Bridge (excluding the roadway work, which was largely carried out by subcontractors). During excavation and grading work, an average of six to eight additional Susquehanna Supply Company employees were on site.

The Underpass

G. A. & F. C. Wagman of York, PA, was prime contractor for the approximately $8.6-million underpass project.

The company began work in early June 1999 on the construction of a rigid frame underpass 325 ft. (99 m) long, plus approaches of 285 ft. (86.8 m) with retaining walls on both sides. Fifteen subcontractors were involved over the course of the project. However, before heavy construction could begin, nearby homes and businesses underwent inspection. One building, a two-and-a-half story brick structure that had been slated for salvage, was condemned and Wagman’s roadway and utilities subcontractor, Don E. Bower Inc. of Berwick, PA, carried out its demolition. “The same company also relocated the underground utilities in preparation of our excavation,” said Anthony Bednarik, Wagman’s project manager.

Soil and cement subcontractor Geocon Inc. of Monroeville, PA, began work on site in late August 1999. “Geocon utilized a 150-ton American crane for deep soil mixing,” noted Bednarik, adding that the soil mix operation was completed by mid-October. By then Geocon also had installed 270 soldier piles for the tunnel walls.

After building a temporary bridge to carry traffic over the work site, Wagman began excavation of the Cut and Cover tunnel at the end of November 1999. It was completed ahead of schedule the following month. “In all, we removed 15,000 cu. yds. of excavation, using two John Deere 450 track loaders and an excavator,” said Bednarik “The loaders had to work under cross bracing with a clearance of 10 ft. and during excavation, we installed 70 walers and 70 cross braces. Each of the cross brace struts had to be preloaded with a design load to counteract the pressure against the soil mix wall.

“For material handling,” Bednarik said, “we had a Lima 75 ton track crane at the northern end of the underpass and a 28-ton Omega crane at the southern. Inside the underpass we used a Caterpillar material handler to move over a million pounds of rebar, formwork and poured concrete.”

Boring horizontally, subcontractor Danville Drilling of Danville, PA, installed a 48-in. (121.9 cm) steel casing under the north end of the tunnel slab, below which Wagman constructed a storm drainage system consisting of 24-in. (60.9 cm) reinforced concrete pipe, precast inlets and manholes throughout the tunnel.

Slab work began in January 2000 and tunnel wall construction started in late February. “The tunnel walls were a one-side form constructed in two lifts, due to the cross bracing,” said Bednarik, “and the approach retaining walls similarly involved a one-sided form, with multiple lifts in some areas.” One unusual aspect of the job involved the tunnel roof, which was formed by installing steel scaffolding with plywood decking.

In keeping with the appearance of the bridge and the historic area in which the project is situated, the tunnel also had an architectural form liner giving the concrete the appearance of stonework, installed on 40 percent of its walls.

“This project offered many unique problems that Wagman does not face every day,” recalled Bednarik. “The concrete walls had to be constructed below and above bracing used to support the excavation. The walls had to be poured in two lifts because of the cross bracing. The walls were formed with a one-sided form system attached to soldier piles and the roof construction was completed with a shoring system more familiar to building construction than bridge construction.”

Wagman’s subcontractors included a number of Pennsylvania companies. Kuharchik Construction Co. of Exeter was responsible for electrical work and McGovern Brothers Inc., headquartered in Wilkes-Barre, provided signs and pedestrian railings. Painting was done by another Wilkes-Barre firm, Wyoming S & P, and the pavement marking was carried out by Hazleton’s Interstate Pavement Marking. Ken Crowl Inc., from Elysburg, provided brick and pre-cast coping and Gregg Fread Inc., of Harrisburg, handled the architectural concrete work. Protection Services, also situated in Harrisburg, was in charge of traffic control. Landscaping planting throughout the borough of Danville was carried out by Green Valley Landscaping of Plains, PA.

Interlock Steelworkers Inc. of Baltimore, MD, was Wagman’s reinforcing steel subcontractor, while the project’s brick paving was laid by Syrstone Inc. headquartered in North Syracuse, NY.

Completed ahead of schedule, the underpass was opened on Sept. 8, 2000, with a small ceremony during Danville’s annual Arts & Crafts Festival. Wagman has since removed its temporary bridge and the entire project was completed by June 30, 2001.

G. A. & F. C. Wagman is a third generation company providing services to the public sector that include the construction of highways, interchanges, dams docks and bridges, as well as bridge rehabilitation, latex-modified concrete overlaying, pavement milling and pile driving. It has been honored for its outstanding safety record on a number of occasions, most recently by receiving one of Pennsylvania’s 2000-01 Governor’s Awards for Safety Excellence. In 2000 the company was named as one of the top 100 best places to work in Pennsylvania.