HERBERT C. BONNER BRIDGE
An Engineering Excellence Award-Winning Project

The North Carolina Department of Transportation selected S&ME to perform a preliminary subsurface investigation and provide foundation design considerations for the replacement of the Bonner Bridge over Oregon Inlet. The 2.5- mile bridge spans one of the most dynamic marine environments in the world, and S&ME was required to drill over deep and shallow waters, marshes and beaches with special attention to safety issues. Other challenging issues for this award-winning project involved the site’s location in a busy navigational channel within a national wildlife refuge, a fragile marine habitat and a popular national recreational area. Parsons-Brinckerhoff designed the replacement bridge and later retained S&ME to conduct an additional subsurface investigation. S&ME also prepared the Structure Foundation Recommendation Report, including a Geologic Inventory Report with foundation design recommendations.

Services:
• Standard penetration and cone penetration
• Test borings
• Global Positioning System surveys, use of hammer energy calibrations and electric pieziocone technologies.
 
"This project exhibited considerable uniqueness in both the logistical and technical challenges…We are also very appreciative of the excellent manner with which S&ME completed the investigation."

—D.B. Moore, Geotechnical Consultant Coordinator
NC Department of Transportation