The new Howard Frankland Bridge in Tampa is the largest in Florida with more than 2.6 million square feet of bridge deck area and cost $875 million. Designing and building the stormwater drainage system for that bridge in Tampa, Florida’s largest, had to take care of 3 miles of causeway leading up to and away from the Howard Frankland Bridge, while also considering possible destructive erosion and mitigating hydroplaning. The project was successfully completed with the drainage system named Project of the Year by the Plastics Pipe Institute, Inc. (PPI), the major North American trade association representing the plastic pipe industry.
The bridge was originally built in 1960 as a single, four-lane, 3-mile span of I-275 linking Tampa to St. Petersburg. Scheduled for completion in 2026, the new bridge will have two separate roadways, each having four general purpose lanes and two express lanes. There is also a path for pedestrians and bicyclists on both sides.
One of the biggest challenges, according to stormwater design engineer, Alex George, P.E. of BCC Engineering (Altamonte Springs, Florida), “was to get a drainage system that was effective for the multi-lane causeways leading up to the bridge where it is extremely flat. During construction it was critical to keep traffic moving while grades were being changed, while keeping all drainage, including temporary systems, performing the entire time.”…