The Arthur Kill Lift Bridge is a 560 ft long railroad bridge between Staten Island and New Jersey. The lift section of the bridge spans the shipping channel between two towers. A sheet pile cofferdam, filled with heavy rock aggregate, and a system of H-piles, whalers, and sheeting create a fender providing protection in case of vessels impact at the base of the two bridge towers. This fender system is original to the bridge construction completed in 1959. Over the last 50 years, the steel components and sheeting in the fender system was damaged and severely deteriorated. A repair design was prepared in 2005. When a delay occurred in implementing the Construction Phase, substantial additional damage occurred not covered by the design. To expedite the project, HM solicited prices from Marine Contractors and awarded the project on a design build basis with superior results.

Project Highlights:

Scheduling and Logistics Constraints: The site is only accessible by water, barge or boat. The rules concerning obstructions in the shipping channels and the Bridges lift schedule greatly limited and dictated the construction schedule. The Bridge lowers 3 times daily and requires worker evacuation from under the badge. Crane booms must be rotated and/or lowered to provide clearance each time.

Team Coordination: Hudson Meridian lead a large and diverse team which included input and work from the Contractor, Design Engineer, NYC Economic Development Corp., Conrail, NYC Container Terminal, Port Authority, United States Coast Guard and Hudson Meridian.

Scope of Work: Rehabilitating the Cofferdams required removing all damaged and deteriorated steel, concrete, and debris from its base. HM installed new steel soldier beams, whalers, and treated timber sheeting. Spalled bridge pier concrete at the tidal zone was removed. New reinforcing was installed and anchored to the pier, forms were installed and tremie pour concrete was placed, completing the spall repair.

At the stone filled protective cofferdams were reinforced with new steel sheeting and concrete encapsulating the existing deteriorated sheeting. Deteriorated fendering between the north & south cofferdams was replaced with new steel soldier beams and whalers with vertical timber planking, all anchored to the pier footing. Multiple rows of 10” x 12” timber fenders ringed the new cofferdam steel sheeting and center fender system. Cathodic protection was applied to the steel sheeting. Navigation lighting was upgraded. All work was performed with strict compliance with applicable permit and environmental requirements and constraints.

The entire design-build process was completed in 20 months, approximately 15% under budget. Change orders were limited to approximately 3% of the original budget.