A.H. Beck installs 8 bridges on 117 drilled shafts for a new limited access highway connection I-26 with the Port of Charleston in North Charleston, South Carolina.
The Port Access Road project is a new limited access highway connecting Interstate 26 with the Port of Charleston Hugh K. Leatherman Sr. Terminal in North Charleston. This design-build project being constructed through a joint venture of Fluor Enterprises and Lane Construction Corp. incorporates a full interchange with I-26 and a main line highway. There are 8 bridges supported on 117 drilled shafts with diameters ranging from 42” to 132” and depths of 65’ to 140’. The drilled shafts were designed by S&ME to be socketed into the Cooper Marl formation. The use of permanent steel casings seated into this marl formation allowed the shafts to be constructed in the “dry”, even with the water table only several feet below the working surface. The majority of the foundations were installed using hydraulic rotary drill rigs, including an SD-36 with several shafts installed form a trestle using a crane attached drill rig.
