Wagman Heavy Civil Project

Garden State Parkway over Great Egg Harbor Bay

  • Location

    Beesley’s Point in Upper Township, NJ to Somers Point, NJ

  • Duration

    May 2013 – June 2016

  • Joint Venture Partner

    R.E. Pierson Construction Co.

This $140.3 million project for the New Jersey Turnpike Authority involved constructing a new parallel bridge carrying Garden State Parkway southbound traffic over Great Egg Harbor Bay and Drag Channel west of the existing structure. Work also included demolition of Beesley’s Point Bridge (Route 9) over Great Egg Harbor Bay and Drag Channel. The project involved constructing a new 3,840-foot bridge over Great Egg Harbor Bay and a new 800-foot bridge over Drag Channel. Work also included roadway improvements across Drag Island.

Key Challenges & Project Details

  • The Great Egg Harbor bridge consists of twenty piers supported on 30-inch square concrete piles.
  • Each of the Great Egg Harbor bridge’s piers has three 6-foot diameter columns.
  • The precast prestressed concrete beams over the main Great Egg Harbor channel were spliced together utilizing post-tensioning in order to increase span lengths, reduce the number of piers, and provide for a wider, unobstructed channel.
  • The MSE walls on Drag Island, holding back the fill over the ground improvements, provide an elevated roadway across Drag Island.
  • In-water work is restricted to protect essential fish habitats and anadromous fish runs. Cofferdam installation was closely coordinated to be completed prior to restricted periods.
  • Sound, vibrations, and pressures from pile driving and blasting operations were mitigated to avoid damaging marine wildlife.
  • Tree clearing is limited to spring time to provide protection for migratory bird species habitat.
  • Marine operations are extremely tide-dependent.
  • The dilapidated old Route 9 bridge over both Drag Channel and Great Egg Harbor was removed and replaced. The unsafe mile and a half long structure has been closed to traffic since 2004.
  • The new structures incorporate a multi-use path connecting Somers Point and Beesley’s Point.
  • Grooving services were included in the project scope of this high profile project per New Jersey Turnpike Authority requirements.

Project Fun Facts

  • The main channel is over 30-feet deep, but only 3 of the 20 piers in Great Egg Harbor are truly deep water piers.

  • The new multi-use path includes a bump out for fishing access over Drag Channel.

  • First ever statnamic load test in the State of New Jersey was done for this project to gauge the performance of a driven concrete pile.

  • The 6 MSE walls on Drag Island, when added together, total over a mile in length.

Project Recognition

  • 2017 - Honor Award, Large Project - American Council of Engineering Companies of NJ

  • 2017 - Grand Award - American Concrete Institute, NJ Chapter