Project 6 – Jewfish Creek Bridge Construction
Client: Florida DOT – District VI
Title: US 1 / Jewfish Creek Bridge Const.
Cost: $300,000,000
Duration: 6 Years, completed
Sandwiched between the Atlantic Ocean and
Everglades National Park, U.S. 1 is the main roadway from the mainland to the
Florida Keys. The
project was constructed in a very environmentally sensitive habitat, as it had
Everglades National Park, the Crocodile Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, the
Southern Everglades Region, and other areas which are designated as Outstanding
Florida Waters as its boundaries. The
project included construction of a mile long bridge over Lake Surprise and
Jewfish Creek, in addition to 21 miles of roadway over and through protected
wetlands including mangrove forests and seagrass beds. The permit and therefore project requirements
included:
- extremely strict water quality requirements, and
phased, multiple extensive Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plans with
hurricane provisions;
- mangrove, seagrass and native upland tree protection
issues, including arborist-supervised mangrove and other native tree
trimming, and vegetation identification and marking for the purpose of
impact avoidance. The project included unavoidable impacts to over 40
acres of mangrove and seagrass habitat;
- protection of Federal and State regulated species such
as manatees, American crocodiles, sea turtles, etc. Manatee signage, monitoring, and erosion
control structure selection to avoid endangering these and other protected
species were all mandated within the US-1 Project permits;
- bird monitoring and protection measures, including
Osprey nest relocation at the initiation of the project.
SKS Engineering Scope of Services
SKS Staff were responsible for overseeing construction
compliance with environmental permits.
Other compliance issues include endangered species and vegetation plans
and protective measures, contractor education, coordination with environmental
agencies. Duties also included environmental
agency coordination and regulatory inspections, subaquatic surveys including
seagrass impacts and debris field inspections, wildlife protection monitoring,
drafted and provided environmental education programs, maintained regulatory
compliance documentation including Permit Requirement trackers, and processed
all permit reporting requirements, and drafted regular inspection reports. Formal
contractor training sessions were held including open discussions of animal and
vegetative species that are protected within the permits, as well as how to
handle encounters with such. Regulatory
personnel were invited and participated in the forum. SKS services also
included turbidity testing and reporting, erosion control structure inspection
and “on-the-fly” revision recommendations.
SKS performed review of contractor SWPPP and other plan
submittals, inspection and certification of dewatering, excavation, Maintenance
of Traffic, erosion control systems; evaluation of the contractor schedules,
shop drawings and field practices against regulatory requirements, inspection
documentation and reporting.
