A.H. Beck in cooperation with KCS, LADOT, and Entergy, reconstruct the Kansas City Southern Railway Bridge L791.3 installing drilled shafts up to 108 feet deep for this project in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
The Kansas City Southern Railway Bridge L791.3 reconstruction project replaced a multi-span wood bridge over the Louisiana Department of Transportation South Acadian Thruway with a single-span steel bridge. The new steel bridge was placed on four 6-foot diameter drilled shafts with depths ranging from 66 to 108 feet, and each drilled shaft required approximately 66 feet of permanent casing. Due to the proximity of overhead power lines, which were not de-energized or removed, the work required utilizing low-head equipment and installing cages and casings in sections by splicing them together over the excavated shafts. Casings could not be advanced by vibratory because of the proximity to the existing railroad bridge and instead were rotated in by the high torque capabilities of the hydraulic rotary in the SD-25 drill rig. Significant coordination with KCS, LADOT, Entergy, and other underground and above-ground utility providers was needed to complete this project successfully, which required utility relocates, power outages, road closures, and rail closures. In addition, each shaft had to be installed within the time frames allowed by the outages of each coordinating authority so that KCS could continue to run rail traffic over the existing bridge throughout reconstruction. GRL performed Cross Hole Sonic logging on each of the shafts.
