In the midst of a nine-mile road construction project sits a project shorter in distance, but just as great in magnitude.
As part of the Highway 179 road work, construction of a new bridge over Oak Creek has begun to replace the existing bridge and is expected to finish by summer 2009.
The new bridge is part of the Arizona Department of Transportation’s road construction from the Village of Oak Creek to the ‘Y’ intersection at Highways 179 and 89A.
By Alison Ecklund
Larson Newspapers
In the midst of a nine-mile road construction project sits a project shorter in distance, but just as great in magnitude.
As part of the Highway 179 road work, construction of a new bridge over Oak Creek has begun to replace the existing bridge and is expected to finish by summer 2009.
The new bridge is part of the Arizona Department of Transportation’s road construction from the Village of Oak Creek to the ‘Y’ intersection at Highways 179 and 89A.
Sedona drivers have noticed huge pipes below the existing bridge that divert water from Oak Creek. With the water out of the way, drilling has started for shafts that will become supports for both bridges.
Oak Creek is a unique waterway, Southwest Asphalt Paving Project Engineer Debbie Pickard said. So the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality and others are constantly monitoring construction by the creek.
No equipment or dirt flying up from construction is allowed in the waterway, she said.
Plans call for a new 180-foot pedestrian bridge to be installed near the existing bridge, and a new bridge will be built 45 feet from that, SAP Project Manager Gregg Smith explained.
The pedestrian bridge, which is already put together in Coolidge, will be installed first.
The utilities on the existing bridge will be transferred to the pedestrian bridge, then 13 feet of the existing bridge will be destroyed to make room to start the new vehicle bridge.
The pedestrian bridge is expected to be installed in the next 45 days, Smith said, which will require intermittent shut downs of Highway 179.
“The bridge is massive,” Smith said. There’s no way to bring in the bridge without some traffic delays.
The vehicle bridge, which will spawn from a new roundabout going in at the corner of Highway 179 and Schnebly Hill Road, will span between 36 and 48 feet wide.
It will be 18 feet high, about the same as the existing bridge, Smith said.
The new bridge will fit better with the renovation of Highway 179, Pickard said. Along with the pedestrian bridge, there will be a sidewalk along the new vehicle bridge.
When the road construction is finished, there will be a sidewalk from Uptown Sedona to the roundabout at Back O’ Beyond, Smith said.
“I think the magnificent thing about this is the difference between the pedestrian bridge and the normal bridge,” Smith said. People will be able to hang out on the pedestrian bridge and take pictures without worrying about
traffic.
For now, tall, white Hark Drilling machinery is busy at work in the dry creek bed, drilling the shafts which will soon become supports for two new bridges.
AMEC, a provider of services and engineering solutions to infrastructure, manufacturing and process industries, then tests the caissons to make sure there are no voids or anomalies before they become the bridge supports.
Alison Ecklund can be reached at 282-7795, Ext. 125, or e-mail aecklund@larsonnewspapers.com
