Hawk Falls Bridge at Milepost 1

Hawk Falls Bridge Replacement

Location Carbon County, PA

Client Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission

Services Construction Inspection, Construction Management

Project Value $88 million

Hill is providing construction management and inspection services for the replacement of the Hawk Falls Bridge at Milepost (MP) A88.59 of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Northeastern Extension (I-476) in Penn Forest and Kidder Townships, Carbon County.

The existing bridge is a 750-foot, three-span, steel deck truss bridge that carries the Turnpike over Mud Run. The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission is replacing the bridge because it is nearing the end of its design service life and considered functionally obsolete due to lack of roadway shoulders. The replacement bridge will consist of a 480-foot open spandrel steel arch with two 60-foot back spans at both ends of the arch for a total structure length of 720 feet. The bridge’s typical section is supported on a girder/floorbeam superstructure system with three lines of steel columns supported on the steel arch ribs spaced at 39 feet center to center.

The project also involves the replacement of a second bridge at MP A88.90. This bridge is a 112-foot, three-span, continuous steel bridge carrying I-476 over Hickory Run Road (SR 0534) directly north of Hawk Falls Bridge. The new bridge will have a 120-foot, single-span steel multi-girder superstructure. The project team will also reconstruct and realign approaching roadway to the east of the existing alignment. The realignment is required to maintain traffic during construction and helps minimize environmental impacts. A typical section of the new roadway will consist of two 12-foot lanes with 6-foot left and 12-foot right shoulders in both the northbound and southbound directions. The overall project limits are from MP A87.67 to MP A89.86.

Hill is conducting inspections to support the management team’s cost and schedule controls during construction. The Hill team’s efforts also reduce the need for rework and help ensure high-quality construction in compliance with all contract documents and State highway construction requirements.