Project Spotlight

Times Union Bulkhead Replacement

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The subject project is located along the North bank of the St. Johns River in front of the Jacksonville Center for the Performing Arts in Jacksonville, Florida. The bulkheads were planned to consist of piles with a tie-back system and dead-man anchors. This task order included performing a geotechnical exploration, laboratory testing program, and engineering analysis to assist the design team with the replacement of the existing bulkhead. Our analysis included providing geotechnical soil parameters to assist in the design of the foundations. To explore the subsurface conditions along the landside, north of the existing bulkhead, we located and performed three Standard Penetration Test (SPT) borings, drilled to depths of approximately 30 feet below the existing ground surface. To avoid potential utility conflicts, the landside borings were advanced using a hand-held bucket auger to a depth of 4 feet below existing grade. To explore the subsurface conditions along the waterside, south of the existing bulkhead, we located and performed four SPT borings, drilled to depths of up to 70 feet below the existing mudline. The three supplemental borings were performed using a mini-track mounted rig mounted on a platform erected at the face of the bulkhead wall. Quantitative laboratory testing was performed on selected samples of the soils encountered during the field exploration to better define the composition of the soils encountered and to provide data for correlation to their anticipated strength and compressibility characteristics.