Friday, December 30, 2011

Concrete two Cell Culvert

Currently working on an inspection report of a two barrel concrete box culvert I inspected a couple weeks ago. 

The inspection started off a little hairy with our inspection van getting stuck in mud and soggy grass next to the highway. We attempted to get it out but after a lot of effort we were able to get it more stuck. Next we called a tow truck to help us get out.
While waiting for the truck we started the inspection. The previous inspection noted only 12" of water but when we arrived at the channel we noticed that recent rain had elevated to water depth and was nearly 4 feet deep. So instead of wearing hip waders we opted out for full waders.

With flashlights in hand we started down the 250 foot long barrel. At the end we noticed downed trees partially blocking the inlet. The second barrel was completely clogged and we had to back track down the first barrel to gain access to the second.
The second barrel was much deeper and had a faster flow with white water at the clogged end.


The high water might have also hurt the local animal community.
 



Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Jumping on the Christmas train.

Okay so it has been a little while and I have honestly not been too busy with work but I have been pretty busy enjoying life. For me that means a lot of doing stuff outdoors (biking, skiing and even joined a rock gym too). 
 
An engineer playing with legos and wearing a star wars shirt, it seems so out of place right! 
Since these only take a few minutes I figured it was time to make an update again.

Just wrapping up a few inspection reports for RIDOT. Currently wrapping up a prestressed concrete I-beam ramp located in East Providence.

The I-195 off ramp has severe deterioration to the pier caps and columns. Timber cribbing was added a few years ago. The concrete I-beams have a few locations of spalling with sections loss to the exposed rebar and stirrups.

The best part of the inspections was that the bridge was near my favorite pizza place in Providence Fellini's.