Christopher S. Bond Missouri River Bridge, Kansas City, Missouri

Download DBA Project Summary Sheet – Christopher S. Bond Bridge

Design and Construction Challenges at kcICON Bridge_Deep Foundations_Spring 2010

Axtell, P.J., Thompson, W.R., and Brown, D.A. (2009). “Drilled Shaft Foundations for the kcICON Missouri River Bridge”, Deep Foundations Institute 34th Annual Conference on Deep Foundations, Conference Proceedings 2009, October 21-23, 2009, Kansas City, Missouri, pp. 3-12.

Project Status: Completed December, 2010 – six months ahead of schedule!

Project Websites: Project Home Page kcICON Facebook Page

DBA Client: Parsons Transportation Group, the bridge designer and lead corridor designer.

DBA Services: DBA performed geotechnical engineering and design of the drilled shaft foundations for the bridge piers. Other services included:

QA review of the geotechnical reports for the remaining geotechnical work on the project corridor, including bridges, retaining walls, and slopes
Developing and analyzing the drilled shaft load test plan
Geotechnical engineering consulting during trial shaft installation
Geotechnical engineering consulting during production shaft construction

Project Highlights: The kcICON project in Kansas City, Missouri is a $245 million project to improve and upgrade about four miles of the I-29/35 Corridor through Kansas City. The project features The Christopher S. Bond Bridge, a landmark cable-stay Missouri River bridge, and upgrades to Interstate 29/35 to six lanes (expandable to eight lanes) from north of the Route 210/Armour Road interchange to Independence Ave. Construction began in Spring 2008 and was completed in December 2010 – six months ahead of schedule. The cable-stayed bridge is approximately 1700 feet long, with the two cable-stayed spans supported by a single pylon. The main channel span is 550 feet and the back span is about 450 feet. Approach spans vary in length from 110 to 165 feet.

Eight drilled shafts support the main pylon with rock sockets 10.5 feet in diameter. The land-based bents are supported with drilled shafts bearing on rock ranging in diameter from 6.5 to 8 feet in diameter. Base grouting was utilized at Bent 5 on the north side of the river to enhance the bearing resistance of the shafts, allowing the shaft length to be reduced and avoid drilling through cobbles and boulders to bear on bedrock. Steel H-piles were used to support the end bents (abutments).

A sacrificial test shaft was installed and tested in the center of the pylon using the O-Cell testing device. The test results allowed an ultimate unit side shear resistance of up to 16 ksf and an ultimate unit end bearing resistance of up to 165 ksf be used for rock socket design.

Photos by DBA: