Charlotte County Public Works:
Tom Adams Bridge Rehabilitation

Charlotte County, Florida

The Tom Adams Bridge, in Charlotte County, Florida, provides a critical link between Manasota Key and the City of Englewood. The project was split into four phases in which the first was a comprehensive bridge inspection and evaluation. The project goal was to extend the life of the bridge for an additional 50 years assuming regular, routine maintenance is completed on the structure. Rehabilitation plans were developed in Phase Two based on the findings of the initial inspection done in Phase One. These plans called for 680 feet of integral pile jacketing providing cathodic protection for the piles, the replacement of 49,000 lb of structural steel on the bascule span, the painting of all of the structural steel, the restoration of over 1200 square feet of spalled concrete deck and the epoxy injection to seal almost 700 feet of cracking in the concrete sea walls. The railing was upgraded to improve the safety for vehicles and expansion joint seals were installed to reduce future maintenance work. Permits were acquired from the US Coast Guard and from the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFMD) that added special criteria to monitor and limit the turbidity and oxygen levels during construction in this Outstanding Florida Waterway. American was responsible for the design and permitting of this work and the construction engineering and inspection (CEI).

Future phases of this project will further improve the operation of the bascule bridge by building a new tender to increase visibility and replace worn mechanical and electrical