March/April 2023 - 14

COVER
STORY
The old and new Harry Nice Bridge
HARRY NICE BRIDGE:
A Geotechnical Instrumentation Case Study
Located about an hour drive south from Washington, D.C., the
Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA) contracted with
Skanska-Corman-McLean (SCM) to deliver a new Governor
Harry W. Nice Memorial/Senator Thomas " Mac " Middleton
Bridge, which takes U.S. 301 over the Potomac River, spanning
1.9 mi (3 km) from Maryland to Virginia. The new bridge
aimed to improve capacity, safety and access of the roadway
and was planned as a four-lane span with deep foundations
that would be constructed fewer than 150 ft (45 m) north of
the existing alignment of the more than 80-year-old bridge.
The new Harry Nice Bridge opened in the fall of 2022 with a
design life of more than 100 years, servicing 12 ft (4 m) wide
lanes with 2 ft (0.6m) shoulders, doubling capacity, enhancing
emergency response, upgrading maintenance and inspection
activity access, and featuring lane sharing for cyclists.
Geotechnical Background
The site geotechnical investigation by Schnabel revealed several
construction risk factors that could cause in-situ soil movements
along the alignment of the bridge. Beneath the top layer
of uncontrolled fill depths up to 34 ft (10 m), the Mid-Atlantic
Coastal Plain geology of the project site consists of recent
terrace and alluvial soil deposits overlying older lower tertiary
soils of the Nanjemoy, Marlboro and Aquia formations. The
terrace and alluvial soils ranged from depths of up to 46 ft
(14 m) at the shores to depths of up to 140 ft (43 m) below the
mudline in the deepest sections of the Potomac, and are composed
of soft to very soft clays with layers of sand and gravel.
The lower tertiary soils encountered below the terrace and
alluvial deposits consist of stiff to very stiff or medium dense to
very dense clay and sand layering, some of which is cemented.
Risk analysis of site soils determined that with pile driving
operations of 36 in (915 mm) square prestressed concrete piles
occurring as little as 35 ft (11 m) away from the existing bridge,
and embankment fills of up to 30 ft (10 m) directly adjacent to
the existing bridge, the impact of lateral displacement, vertical
heave, soil densification and vibrations on existing substructure
units would fall below structural impact design tolerances.
However, to ensure protection of the existing bridge structures
and verify the structural impact of adjacent construction,
geotechnical instrumentation was recommended to monitor
pile driving and embankment fill activity.
14 * DEEP FOUNDATIONS * MAR/APR 2023
AUTHORS Kevin Tehansky, P.E., and Jeffrey Goodwin, P.E., Foundation Test Group, and Melih Demirkan, Ph.D., P.E., Rite Geosystems

March/April 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of March/April 2023

TOC
March/April 2023 - Intro
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March/April 2023 - TOC
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