Scope:
Construct parallel roadway to create four-lane divided highway. Includes construction of new steel arch bridge, to be similar in appearance to existing bridge over Burro Creek. Length of arch from pin to pin is 699 ft. 10 in. Roadway will be approximately 388 ft. above the Burro Creek below. Total length of bridge over air is approximately 985 ft. 6 in. New bridge will be constructed of "weathering steel" which will not be painted, and will thus acquire a natural brown appearance. Eventually, under a separate project, the existing Burro Creek bridge will be painted to match the NEW bridge. The new bridge will be a part of the new NORTHBOUND lanes.
Construction started:
January 2004
Presently, about 34% of the work is complete
Contract completion date: December 2005
Challenges on the project include:
- Extreme summer temperatures
- Remote location
- Intermittent coverage of the area by radio or cell phones
- Rocky terrain
- Enormous amounts of rock to be blasted, moved, and used as fill materials, and obtaining enough fine materials to use as roadway base and in the asphalt paving.
- Cracking and fracturing of the Wickenburg side of the canyon, for which repairs are necessary. This was an unknown condition. Contractor will install long "rock bolts" into the face of the rock slope, to hold back the cracked areas.
- Moving and replanting hundreds of cacti.
- Keeping all but a small amount of blasted rock out of the canyon below, as it is a protected area.
~ More Project Information ~
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