State Skyway Toll Bridges Asset Maintenance Contract

KCA served as the lead engineering firm for the inspection service of Sunshine Skyway Bridge from 2004 to 2014. KCA provided these bridge inspection and engineering services under an asset management contract with Infrastructure Corporation of America (ICA). The Sunshine Skyway Bridge is part of Interstate 275 that links the major metropolitan areas of Tampa/St. Petersburg and Bradenton/Sarasota across lower Tampa Bay on the west coast of Florida. The Skyway Bridge has a total bridge length of 21,880 feet (4.1 miles). The bridge consists of three major sections: 4000-foot-long main span, 4860-foot-long high-level approach span, and 13,020-foot low level approach span (Trestle System). The main spans and high-level approach spans are concrete segmental box girder construction with external post tensioning tendons. The main spans are supported by 42 cable- stays consisting of 38 to 82 post tensioned strands encased in grout inside of non-structural steel casing. There are two main support piers within the cable stay spans. Twenty-One cables pass through each of the main support pier pylons and anchor into the segmental box girders along centerline of the structure.

From 2004 through 2014 KCA provided the biennial routine inspections as part of an Asset Maintenance Contract held by ICA. KCA was responsible for the inspection and detailed documentation of the high-level approach spans and main spans including the cable stay portions. In 2008 at the request of FDOT, KCA, in conjunction with a firm specializing in corrosion, performed a special detailed inspection of the Banana Pipes encased within the pylons over the main piers. This inspection was performed to evaluate corrosion within the banana pipes. This inspection utilized a bore scope to visually access this confined area. Some specialized equipment needed to accomplish a typical inspection of this bridge includes a 60 foot under bridge inspection vehicle which deploys from the deck top and allows for the inspection of the bridge underside, a 240 foot aerial lift to access the stay cables of the main span and a motorized chair lift that traveled up and down a cable to inspect the pylons and the interior and exterior of the hollow precast columns.