Jobs Done Well
The Geotechnical Services of Kiewit Engineering Co. (KECo) provides consulting to the operating districts of Kiewit on bid estimates and work-in-progress. Geotechnical Services include ground behavior assessments, pile driving analysis and dewatering analysis. With Kiewit’s history of large-scale earth-moving operations, Geotechnical Services is key to providing method selection and design for support of excavation. As part of KECo’s interfacing of disciplines, Geotechnical Services works closely with Design Services to assess required earth support and the structures needed to achieve support. Geotechnical Services assists with Kiewit’s underground operations in tunneling, deep foundation analysis and design, caisson installation methods and underground construction. Geotechnical Services also assists in reviewing instrumentation and monitoring data.
As part of the massive substructure work needed for this 5,413-foot-long suspension bridge, Geotechnical Services was involved in foundation design for the two large sunken caisson foundation boxes (130 by 80 by 250 feet deep) that anchor the 510-foot-tall towers on either side of the bridge. Geotechnical Services also assisted in construction planning and caisson penetration evaluation for the steel shell boxes filled with concrete that will eventually settle on the river bottom because of their own weight.
The Hood Canal Bridge is the main economic transportation link between the Puget Sound and the Olympic Peninsula. This unique project called for the construction of new floating concrete pontoon roadway sections as well as new bridge approaches. The floating pontoons are being constructed in a sheet pile graving dock. Geotechnical Services provided the graving dock cofferdam design loading evaluation for the area where the pontoons will be fabricated. KECo also provided dewatering system design and pile driving evaluation.
This five-lane toll bridge is more than 82 feet wide and 7,500 feet long. The substructure work required construction of 17 piers, of which 12 are water piers. These piers are founded on 99 concrete and steel piles, which are approximately eight feet in diameter and extend nearly 300 feet into the bedrock below. For the bridge's pier construction, Geotechnical Services performed pile driving evaluation, foundation methods analysis and foundation design for falsework as well as crane foundations.
Actually two projects in one, this work features two deep wastewater pump stations for which Geotechnical Services supplied pre-bid geotechnical review, sheet pile driving analysis and dewatering evaluation. Working at a depth of 80 feet, crews pump groundwater from the excavation site at a rate of 14 million gallons per day to enable construction.
East Side Access - Long Island City, NY
This project will provide an initial access point for the portal of a future commuter rail line of the Long Island railroad from Queens, New York. Geotechnical Services provided pre-bid geotechnical review, excavation sequence analysis, dewatering evaluation and a slurry wall support system. The access point is at a depth of 80 feet. Future tunneling under the East River will parallel existing subway systems into Manhattan.