Corven Engineering, an H&H company, performed peer review, construction engineering, and additional engineering services to replace the Herbert C. Bonner Bridge over Oregon Inlet on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The bridge is the sole means of land access to Hatteras Island. The existing bridge was opened to traffic in 1963 and required significant repairs due to scour. The new bridge, now called the Marc Basnight Bridge, provides a 12-foot lane of traffic in each direction and 70 feet of vertical clearance over the navigation channel.
Corven provided independent verification of the design using independent analysis, independent calculations, and verification of the member strength based on the design drawings. The analysis considered the scouring of the bay bottom and the distribution of vessel collision force through the structure. Integrated shop drawings for the precast segments; construction analysis; post-tensioning stressing data; step-by-step erection procedures; falsework design; geometry control manual; three-dimensional segment geometry, and casting software were also provided.
The 14,800-foot long bridge consists of a 3,550 foot long continuous precast segmental navigation unit with 350 foot long spans. The precast segments are 42’-7” wide and vary in depth from 9 to 19 feet. The navigation unit piers are precast hollow box piers vertically post-tensioned. The superstructure is a built-in balanced cantilever using a beam-and-winch segment lifter system.
