Alpha & Omega Group, as a consultant to the Carolina Bridge Company, designed bridge parapets (railings) of six bridges on the remote island of Ocracoke, in North Carolina's Outer Banks. Carolina Brige Company replaced seven aging timber bridges along NC Highway 12 for the North Carolina Department of Transportation, one with a pipe culvert and six with prestressed AASHTO-voided slab structures.

Because of funding restrictions and low traffic volumes during the winter, the NCDOT decided to substantially replace all of the bridges during a single 10-week road closure.

A&O designed the bridge parapet to be precast onto exterior cored slab units at the fabricator’s yard, eliminating field placement and grouting of 234 precast parapet segments and substantially expediting construction. To allow construction within this time period, the bridges were designed almost entirely of precast concrete components. Carolina Bridge Company was able to complete construction of the six bridges 30 days ahead of schedule, earning the contractor a $350,000 bonus and an award. Ω


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