No one could have predicted that Atlanta’s I-85 bridge fire would lead to a conference with the U.S. president. The March 30, 2017, blaze that broke out during evening rush hour burned so hot and so fast it collapsed a 100-foot section of the northbound bridge and ravaged a longer stretch of lanes in both directions.
Miraculously, no one was injured in the worst transportation disaster in the city’s history.
The Georgia DOT (GDOT) has experienced bridge losses before, mostly from flooding, but never in a heavily urbanized area and never requiring such an extensive rebuild. Yet 700 feet of multilane elevated roadway were rebuilt within six weeks. The corridor reopened May 13, a month ahead of schedule. Fast-tracking reconstruction cost $16.6 million, including a $3.1 million bonus for the contractor, but saved drivers more than $27 million in costs associated with traffic congestion and detours.
How could an undertaking that should have taken months been completed so quickly? In addition to working tirelessly toward their common goal, the project team deployed processes and technologies industries other than construction use to improve efficiency and reduce costs.
First step: identify efficiencies
State and federal response to the disaster was swift. Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal declared a state of emergency for Fulton County soon after the fire broke out, making all the state’s resources available to assist in response and recovery.
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) immediately provided $10 million in emergency relief and expedited regulatory requirements, which allowed construction to move forward without federal review. GDOT also was able to forgo bid solicitation; and by 10 pm on the day of the fire C.W. Matthews Contracting Co. Inc. of Marietta, Ga., was selected for the job. Early the next morning, D.H. Griffin Wrecking Co. of Greensboro, N.C., was onsite assessing demolition needs.
“We pulled men who are experienced doing bridges from other jobs and mobilized equipment from work sites in Georgia,” says Paul Ferguson, D.H. Griffin’s division manager of Georgia operations. “We brought in 14 pieces of machinery and around 35 operators and support people.”
GDOT engineers and C.W. Matthews began strategizing to expedite the rebuild. As the engineers developed portions of plans, C.W. Matthews weighed in from a construction perspective.
“We looked for anything that would be detrimental to the schedule,” says C.W. Matthews Vice President of Structures Adam Grist. “The criteria were that it had to work from an engineering perspective and be able to be built as quickly as possible.”
Over an intense three days, GDOT engineers redesigned the bridges using concrete mixes and beams that could be fabricated much faster than the originals. In addition, C.W. Matthews received firm commitments from its suppliers to meet very aggressive schedules. With the redesign and suppliers in place, GDOT announced the I-85 corridor would reopen in 10 weeks.
Avoiding scheduling glitches
Even before the last of 115 truckloads of debris were removed, construction crews and inspectors began working 24/7.
To ensure crews never had to wait on materials or equipment, GDOT lifted the restriction on daytime oversize load hauling. For example, reconstruction required 61 new beams, some 116 feet long and weighing 95,000 pounds. Lifting the restriction allowed just-in-time delivery, an approach used in industries other than construction to improve efficiency and reduce costs.
Progress was also accelerated by the use of construction cameras: one that streamed live video and another that captured high-resolution images every 10 minutes. C.W. Matthews had experience with cameras from Atlanta-based OxBlue Corp. and enjoyed being able to access a historical record to verify details. For the bridge rebuild, the contractor used them to remotely monitor the jobsite on computers and mobile devices.
General Manager Brad Nelson was offsite for two weeks recovering from knee surgery but was able to stay on top of progress and schedules. “I watched the cameras constantly, and when people called with questions I had the answers immediately because I could see everything that was happening.”
Project managers and superintendents used the cameras to review progress before their shifts so they could arrive at the site with plans for the day. And Grist, who led the project, used them when he was offsite to prevent delays. If a delivery didn’t arrive when expected, “I could start making calls to find out why and figure out what to do next so we didn’t lose any time.”
Making the public part of the process
The cameras also enabled people to follow progress on the web. Cameras are often used on high-profile transportation projects to keep travelers and taxpayers updated on advances, as well as the accompanying inconveniences.
“They brought the public into the process and showed them the speed and efficiency of the work,” says GDOT Communications Director Scott Higley. The agency also used the cameras to corroborate information released to the media.
Mark Dolan, C.W. Matthew’s project manager on the dayshift, echoes the need for transparency: “A lot of taxpayer dollars are being spent, and we want to make sure we’re making people happy.”
“I saw a lot of social media comments about how impressed people were that we worked 24 hours a day,” says Grist, who credits the cameras with creating a sense of community among residents and workers. “Local support was unbelievable, from businesses feeding the crews to people thanking us for working so hard to get life back to normal.”
Setting a precedent
Just as the fire captured the nation’s attention, the reconstruction project captured attention in Washington, D.C. GDOT Commissioner Russell McMurry was one of a group of state transportation leaders invited to participate in a roundtable discussion with President Donald Trump, U.S. DOT Secretary Elaine Chao, and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke in June as part of Infrastructure Week May 15 through 19.
A major focus of the event was reducing regulatory burdens and streamlining permitting, factors that played major roles in expediting I-85’s reconstruction.
“Because it went so quickly and so efficiently, we believe the project will be critiqued and reviewed for years to come,” says Higley. He also expects the visual record provided by the construction cameras will prove to be very valuable in gaining critical insights.