Market
Lafayette Bridge
Project Details
TUTOR PERINI AFFILIATES
Lunda Construction Company
Contractor
Contract Amount: $130 Million
OWNER
Minnesota Department of Transportation
LOCATION
St. Paul, MN
COMPLETION
2015
Project Description
The project includes Bridges 62018 and 62017 that are each 3,209 feet long, 14 span structures with a 362-foot main span over the Mississippi River. Work activities on these structures included cofferdam installation, 42-inch OD pile driving, substructure construction, structural steel fabrication, structural steel erecting, and superstructure construction. The river piers are located on the edges of the Navigation Channel and required considerable coordination with the United States Coast Guard as well as the local stakeholders that move freight through this section of the river. To accomplish this, Lunda developed navigation plans that were reviewed and approved by the Coast Guard and local stakeholders. During the construction engineering and planning phase of the cofferdam designs, Lunda considered all the risks associated with the fluctuating water elevations of the river and designed the cofferdams to an elevation that would allow them to continue working (unless there was a major flood event). The work required that Lunda coordinate with the Corps of Engineers and City of St. Paul, as four of the land piers were located in flood protection levees. The Corps and City did not want the levees compromised, thus, Lunda developed means and methods to work over the top of the levees, which allowed the work to be completed without any impacts.