Florida DOT Points to URS for Pile Problems in Tampa
URS, the Tampa Hillsborough County Expressway Authoritys chief engineering consultant, also designed the foundations. URSs contract mandated that the ground be probed 12 ft under each support piling and FDOT standards call for depths of 5 to 20 ft.
"Even though this specification is included in the contract documents, these cores/samples were not obtained during construction," said Jim Mouton, local FDOT director of operations, in a letter to interim authority director Ralph Mervine. FDOT engineers and consultants concluded that "the original borings performed for the design of this project revealed inconsistent soil conditions," the letter stated.