.jpg)
Kapur approaches every project with an eye for cost savings, so when asked to help reconstruct or rehabilitate 558 bridges and box culverts in less than five years as part of the Pennsylvania Rapid Bridge Replacement project, our contribution seemed obvious – stage to reduce survey, design, and construction costs by regionally phasing the work.
The result was an average savings of $400,000 per bridge replacement, which, with the bridge replacement project extending the life of the 550 bridges anywhere from 40 to 100 years per structure, resulted in an estimated cost savings significantly greater than the actual cost of the entire project.
The timeframe, though, wasn’t without its challenges. Kapur provided expedited control, topographic data collection, design, and construction services, highlighted by using highly accurate GPS equipment to establish control and mobile LiDAR to greatly reduce the initial survey work.
Kapur began by establishing controls and acquiring LiDAR data in late December 2014. Follow-up conventional design surveys were conducted from spring through fall of 2015.
Conventional surveying upstream and downstream was performed from March 2015 through September 2015 on the first phase of 66 bridges. Because many were small rural structures, Kapur used a GIS system to develop the quickest means of collecting data and reducing costs.
Construction progressed at a rapid pace:
.jpg)
