The Solution to Collapsing Highway

Lennox Bradley

So what’s the solution and timeline for when a permanent fix can be expected?

Lennox Bradley, Chief Engineer

“We plan to use H piles – that’s metal steel sections that will have a greater penetration in the type of soil that exists and predominates that area because the precast concrete pile, while it is fifteen feet, because of the nature of material that depth of embedment is not enough. The H piles will give far much more penetration that is required for a more permanent solution. Likewise, we want to get metal sheet piles that can penetrate in the silt material that exists there. So we will have much more anchorage and if we strap it properly that will be of a much longer duration compared to what was built in 2009.  I will readily admit that it will not be an easy fix because one of the factors that is erratic is shipping. I mentioned metal parts like the H pile and the metal sheet piles; those have to be imported so the shipping time is an area that we cannot comment on. So we are saying maybe a next three months so we could have the imported material in country and then maybe a few weeks to complete the construction. But I really don’t want to put a set time because of that shipping issue that we all are aware of.”