American Venice Bridges
About this Project
LKB was retained by the Town of Babylon to provide design, construction support services, and construction management/construction inspection services for the replacement of the West Riviera Drive and the East Riviera Drive bridges which span over a local canal that leads to the Great South Bay. These bridges provide the only access to 900 homes in the American Venice section located on the south shore of Long Island, in Copiague, NY. These concrete arch bridges that resemble the bridges in Venice, Italy were built in the 1920’s and are considered to be historical.
The need for the replacement of these bridges was highlighted during the flooding that occurred in the area during Superstorm Sandy, along with the existing bridges being narrow and posted for 12 tons, which limited access from emergency response vehicles and from construction trucks during the cleanup process after the storm. LKB worked with the local community and New York State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) to design new bridges that replicated the concrete arch structures, along with the intricate concrete parapets, which were originally designed to look like a typical bridge found in Venice, Italy. The new bridges were designed with a wider width to accommodate one lane of traffic in each direction, along with an increased live load capacity to meet current standards, in order to eliminate any vehicle restrictions. In addition to the new bridges and connecting roadway work, LKB designed temporary steel sheeting cofferdams to protect the bridge construction and new composite sheeting to tie into the existing bulkheads at all four corners of each bridge. The project was federally funded and was administered by the Town of Babylon, along with the Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery (GOSR).
Upon acceptance of the contract documents, LKB provided services during the bidding phase, which included responding to inquiries from prospective bidders; review of contractors’ qualifications and references; preparation of a bid summary; and recommendation of the award to the lowest responsible and qualified bidder. LKB’s construction support services during the construction phase included review and approval of detailed shop drawings, catalog cuts, and miscellaneous submittals for compliance with contract documents; review and responses to RFI’s (Request for Information) and Change Order Requests; and attendance of progress and project meetings, as necessary.
LKB’s construction management and inspection services included detailed inspection, on-site field testing of materials and other construction activities, including field measurement and collection of data, submission of monthly and final estimates and progress reports, and preparation of record plans showing all changes from the contract plans. The construction management/inspection services included overseeing all construction operations and the placement of Work Zone Traffic Control. LKB was responsible for monitoring contract progress and maintaining all records in accordance with the Manual of Uniform Record Keeping (MURK).
This project received the 2020 Resiliency Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) – Long Island Branch.
Client
Town of Babylon
Completion
2019
Awards
2020 Resiliency
ASCE Long Island Branch
