NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The Lucaya Service Company Limited (LUSCO) yesterday announced that repairs to the Casuarina Bridge which was damaged by Hurricane Dorian’s high winds and flooding in 2019 are progressing.
“The Casuarina Bridge provides safe and convenient passage from Freeport to communities in the east,” said Charisse Brown, Grand Bahama Development Company Limited (DEVCO) CEO and Senior Legal Counsel.
“As such, it’s a critical structure for our communities. It showed some aging at the roadways and the bridge structure prior to Dorian, so we are repairing general wear and tear of the Bridge in addition to making much-needed storm-related repairs.”
In 2020, DEVCO and LUSCO procured an engineering team, Integrated Building Services, to perform a conditional assessment of the Bridge. Several key issues were identified including embankment and abutment damage, weathering of the pile cap beam, fender damage, pavement damage, bridge deck expansion joint, and the need for the construction of a service road.
In late 2020, LUSCO and DEVCO underwent a procurement exercise for a contractor to undertake work on the Bridge, and All Bahamas Construction (ABC) was engaged to complete the work, valued at approximately $1.9 million.
“During construction, some observations were made about the Casuarina Bridge’s structural capacity, and a detailed structural assessment was undertaken,” said Kenya Longley, Project Manager at Integrated Building Services Limited.
“Work was paused while engineers performed destructive and non-destructive tests, which determined that the Bridge required different means and methods for repair, resulting in changes to the scope of the work.”
DEVCO advised that those changes, which have increased the cost of the work to $2.8 million, include revising the sheet pile method for seawall protection and replacing it with the reinforced concrete seawall and retaining wall, the addition of a retaining wall along the length of the western embankment, structural tests and pile cap structural repairs.
DEVCO further noted that work is ongoing at the Casuarina Bridge and good progress has been made. In addition to clearing the land, filling the embankment on the eastern side, and partially constructing the embankment on the western side, ABC has completed the retaining wall for the seawall, and the seawall on the north side of the Bridge.
On the south side, the retaining wall for the seawall has been constructed and work on the south seawall is in progress. The embankment retaining wall design has been finalized and ABC is working on completing the base layer fill of the trenched northern side to begin the foundation for the retaining wall.
ABC continues to have traffic management measures such as signage and flagmen at the Casuarina Bridge to maintain public safety. Mariners are also reminded to slow down and exercise extreme caution when approaching the area.
“We know that these critical repairs can result in inconveniences, and we apologize for that. The public’s continued patience is greatly appreciated, as we complete the repairs safely and as expeditiously as possible,” Brown concluded.
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