Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Atlantic County Recognized for Engineering Accomplishments

Atlantic County's rehabilitation of the JFK Memorial Bridge between Egg Harbor Township and Longport has been selected as the South Jersey Outstanding Civil Engineering Project of the Year by the South Jersey American Society of Civil Engineers (SJASCE) who also chose County Engineer Mark Shourds as this year's Distinguished Engineer.

Shourds, a resident of Galloway, and staff members from the Atlantic County Division of Engineering will accept the awards on June 5 in Deptford at the 36th annual SJASCE awards luncheon.

"I am extremely proud of our Engineering Division. Staff work very hard and are faced with many challenges in maintaining and improving our transportation infrastructure," stated Dennis Levinson, County Executive.

Atlantic County's rehabilitation of the 50-year old JFK Memorial Bridge took place in 2013-14 and extended the structure's longevity by another 25 years. Repairs to the bridge's concrete deck included installing a sealer overlay, adding all new deck joints, repairing the structural steel in the main span, repairing the piles, and restoring the capacity of the I-beams using carbon fiber wrap.

The bridge remained open throughout construction, at the request of the public, rather than implementing a full closure of the bridge with an 18.5-mile detour.

Had the bridge been replaced, it would have been out of service for as long as three years at a cost of as much as five times more than the one-year rehabilitation.

County News