Cracks in Girders Delay North Carolina Project a Second Time
North Carolina Dept. of Transportation officials hope to resume erection work on the $36.6-million Oak Island Bridge project before the end of July, once concerns about cracks found in five concrete girders are alleviated. Work on the bridge halted in early July for the second time in eight months while prime contractor Barnhill Contracting Co., Tarboro, N.C., validates the quality of the suspect girders, four of which were placed.
The bridge is part of a new 4.5-mile-long link connecting Oak Island to the mainland, south of Wilmington in Brunswick County. It consists of 160-ft-long modified bulb-tees erected as three-span continuous units. Ellis Powell, NCDOT director of field support, says potential problems were first identified at fabricator Standard Concrete Products plant in Savannah, Ga. Follow-up inspections raised more concerns.