In the beginning stages of the project, the city had to engage with the Federal Highway Administration and the Virginia DOT (VDOT) to move forward in the planning process for construction. The city had decided early on that they wanted a segmental bridge in order to have longer spans, more curves on the structure, and an aesthetic quality that would fit the bridge into the landscape. One of the factors that was considered in the design phase of the project was to create more space between the pier columns in order to provide unobstructed views of the Chesapeake Bay and Lynnhaven River, since the current bridge had spacing of piles that were 50 ft apart, thus obscuring the views. A segmental bridge would lend itself to having wider pier column spacing.
This desire initially posed a problem with VDOT, as the agency had reservations about constructing a segmental bridge. “They were having problems with segmental bridges at the time, based on design flaws or means and methods of construction in the past, and it caused long-term maintenance costs for the state of Virginia,” Wojtowicz explained. The city of Virginia Beach was so adamant about getting the project off the ground without delay that it volunteered to pay for the engineering efforts. Over time, after the city continued to work with VDOT to show the structure would be durable, about $80 million eventually made its way from the governor’s transportation fund to support the project.
The highly corrosive coastal marine environment of the Lynnhaven Inlet presented a few concerns for the team in terms of the structure’s durability. “We’re in a tropical storm-hurricane environment—obviously a very aggressive chloride environment for steel in a bridge, so we wanted to make sure we used materials that were going to be durable enough to have a 100-year design life in the bridge,” Wojtowicz said. The bridge deck included corrosion-resistant reinforcing (CRR) steel and was post-tensioned longitudinally and transversely. The bridge deck also included a 4-in. final cover for long-term durability, and the substructure had a low-permeability concrete mix with CRR steel and an increased concrete cover of up to 6 in. at the bottom of footings.
In addition to challenging environmental conditions, concerns about environmental impact also affected the team’s approach to the project. While construction was carried out, a health and safety officer was tasked with watching for sea turtles so that the work would not impact any nests. The possibility of the endangered Atlantic sturgeon roaming the area also impacted construction methods, as the team specified drilled shafts instead of concrete piles to be driven in order to produce less vibration while installing so as not to disturb the sturgeon. The team also had restrictions on dredging in the Lynnhaven between October and February due to the winter flounder season.
