Skanska earned the final major contract of the $2.4 billion Alameda Corridor project.
The $30 million final contract -- the Pacific Coast Highway Grade Separation -- was awarded to eliminate traffic conflicts at two railroad crossings and the Alameda Street intersection.
The project, located just one mile from the busy ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, was completed ahead of schedule.
Skanska constructed a 503-meter long pre-cast concrete girder viaduct. The viaduct is supported on cast-in-drilled-hole piles up to three meters in diameter and 21 meters deep. The project also included 13 spans with a 170 millimeter thick concrete deck supported on 169 pre-cast concrete girders. Skanska also constructed a shorter connecting ramp bridge.
The separation structure was built as a footprint to the existing highway and separates Pacific Coast Highway traffic from the Alameda Corridor railroad lines and Alameda Street.
The contract required the complete closure of the Pacific Coast Highway, which allowed work to progress in many areas without having public traffic as a hindrance. Because of the traffic closure, Skanska was given a challenging time constraint to complete the job.
The Pacific Coast Highway is part of the state highway system so a unique agreement was forged between the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority and the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). The Authority managed the design and construction of the project but Caltrans maintains the facility after completion. Therefore, Caltrans provided project oversight and funded 70 percent of the costs.
Additional involvement from the cities of Los Angeles and Long Beach and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power created additional coordination challenges for Skanska. These entities played a major role in the design of the project and remained involved throughout construction.
