An entry submitted by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Department of Highways District 10's design team was chosen as the winner of the William S. Gulick In-house Project Excellence Award in statewide competition.
The award was for the new KY 52 Bridge at St. Helens in Lee County, and was presented to District 10’s Project Development Branch at the recent 2015 Partnering Conference in Louisville.
“Given the emergency nature of this project, winning this award was very gratifying,” said Corbett Caudill, chief district engineer.
“Our team basically started from scratch and had a new bridge designed, built and open to traffic within five months after flood damage made building it necessary. Bridge projects of this nature generally take two years or more to complete, from design to construction, and to have everything finished in around five months is amazing. We’re pleased and proud that the awards committee was impressed with this project,” added Caudill.
A section of KY 52 above an old WPA-era box culvert began collapsing after heavy rain and flooding the first week of March. State officials deemed the road unsafe and closed it to traffic on March 6.
The road, which carries approximately 2,200 vehicles per day and connects Beattyville and Jackson, is a vital link in the area’s transportation network. It is heavily used by ambulances transporting patients to the Kentucky Regional Medical Center in Breathitt County, as well as by school buses, commuters and local traffic.
Once engineers determined that the best way to permanently repair the road was by building a new bridge, Transportation Cabinet personnel began an accelerated project development schedule that resulted in the new span being fully open before school resumed in Lee County in August.
After KY 52 became impassable, drivers only had to endure two short-term closures of the road. Temporary repairs were made to the damaged portion to allow one-lane traffic, and the road reopened on March 23. It closed again on May 27, when construction on the bridge began, but reopened on June 12 via a temporary diversion around the structure. When a flash flood washed out the diversion on July 14, work on the bridge was far enough along that traffic could use it while final work on the project was completed.
The award is named for William S. Gulick, a longtime Kentucky Transportation Cabinet engineer, and is presented annually. District 10 has won the award five previous times since 2006.
(story provided by Kentucky Transportation Cabinet)
