CME.11 – Olympic Boulevard Bridge Development – Hammerhead Pier Analysis, Cost & Schedule Optimization
Team Members Heading link
- Ab Bawa
- Meia Coutre
- Alex Omelanczuk
- Jenish Soni
- Ahmed Tahr
- Eduardo Villasenor
Project Description Heading link
The Olympic Boulevard Bridge Development Project was a series of improvements targeted to improve the daily traffic of commuters along with the economic welfare of local businesses in Western Will County, Joliet. The main focus of this project included a new bridge in the westward extension of Olympic Boulevard over the Rock Run Creek. The bridge structure would form a new east-west connection between Houbolt Road and the I-55 East Frontage Road to provide access from the east to a new major regional mixed-use development called Rock Run Crossings. The team primarily focused on two aspects of the project; analyzing and designing the substructure of the proposed steel bridge and analyzing the constructability of the project. The team focused on the substructure aspect by specifically looking at reducing the size and increasing durability of the piers to reduce the cost of the bridge. Hammerhead piers are durable, which would increase the load capacity to resist external forces from debris and floating ice. Therefore, hammerhead piers were the ideal choice for rivers and wetland areas without using any additional pier protection. The other aspect of the project was analyzing the constructability of the piers by looking at expediting the construction process to reduce the amount of construction time on Rock Run Creek. Overall, the main objective was to analyze and design the hammerhead pier type’s structural improvements with the proposed pier type of Patrick Engineering to see which design reduced the environmental impact on Rock Run Creek, as it encompasses a nature trail to the public, while also analyzing the construction components in order to expedite the construction period of the development as a segway to future economic welfare for the City of Joliet. Keywords – constructability, hammerhead pier type, environmental impact, economic welfare, sustainability