The Crosstown Parkway Extension creates a third crossing into Port St. Lucie, relieves traffic congestion, and provides an additional hurricane evacuation route.
The corridor included approximately 1.5 miles of roadway improvements beginning at Manth Lane and a 0.75-mile bridge over the North Fork of the St. Lucie River, ending at the intersection with U.S. 1. The bridge traverses an environmentally sensitive area, which required minimization of wetland impacts and protection of the Savannas Preserve State Park. This project features unique architecture for the city’s signature bridge, drainage design, utility coordination/design, and extensive landscaping.
The PD&E process took more than 10 years, leaving federal funding jeopardized and on the brink of expiration if they did not let for construction soon. To secure funding more quickly, the city used design-build to expedite the process.
To minimize the environmental challenges, the team decided to design the bridge with geotechnical information that had been obtained from either land side approach intending to complete geotechnical investigations via temporary trestle during construction. This eliminated a separate permit to obtain geotechnical information.
The trestle was installed linearly within 50 ft of the proposed pile foundations and bores were taken, as it progressed the length of the bridge. Preliminary bores on either side of the bridge were used to identify potential foundation types early in the pursuit phase; however, final geotechnical exploration and findings were used to define actual lengths.
The team also needed to improve traffic flow at the intersection of Crosstown Parkway and Floresta Drive. To do this, the design-build team introduced a superstreet intersection, the first of its kind in Florida.
Ultimately, the Crosstown Parkway opened two months ahead of schedule. With the team’s innovations in design and construction, they brought the price $13 million under budget with added scope.
