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Scour Mitigation and Retrofit at Feather River Bridge
2021-2022
California Engineering Contractors, Inc. (CEC) received the contract award in March of 2021, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. The work included scour mitigation and pier retrofits of the Feather River Bridge on State Highway 20 between Marysville and Yuba City, California. Four major piers outside the current river channel (17-20) and one in-water pier (23) were scheduled for extensive retrofitting, substantially increasing the size of the reinforced concrete pier's footings and underpinning the expanded footing with 4' diameter steel piles. The in-water work required a cofferdam to allow the work to proceed in the dry. The estimated cost of the project was $27 million and a maximum time of 415 working days was allowed. CEC won the award with a bid of approximately $17.5 million and the minimum allowed time bid of 290 WD.
CEC then announced their intent to complete the work in less than one year, even though work could only occur in the flood plain from April 15 through October 30 each year. Caltrans was initially skeptical but listened to CEC explain the logic for their work plan, including how this sequence could save more than a year of time on the project and several million dollars in administrative costs for Caltrans. Caltrans bought into the mutual benefits of this accelerated plan. This shared commitment to an early completion, with advantages for Caltrans, CEC, and the public, set the tone for collaborative work throughout the project.
Understanding that an early start to the work was key, Caltrans expedited the review and approval of the initial engineering and administrative submittals. As with any major construction project, issues and challenges did arise, including problems with rebar obstructions in the pier columns, pile driving difficulties, and a pier foundation being 5 feet lower than the design drawings anticipated. Caltrans and CEC overcame these and other issues by committing to, and applying, collaborative principles: communicating anticipated or discovered problems early, committing that resolution was a goal for the project, resolving issues at lower levels where possible, and getting management involved where needed.
CEC and Caltrans were recognized with the International Partnering Institute’s Collaborative Project of the Year for 2023.
