Permanent and temporary walls figure in Florida I-75 Interchange

November 16th, 2009

This Florida Department of Transportation project is improving the interchange at Interstate 75 and County Road 54 (near Tampa) to accommodate the future widening of County Road 54 by Pasco County and to prepare for the future widening of I-75 to six lanes. It utilizes six permanent MSE Precast Panel Walls combined with eight temporary Welded Wire Walls to facilitate the project’s phasing.

image of completed wall

The permanent Precast Panel Walls cover a total area of 110,000 square feet and are finished with five-foot square panels in a Fractured Fin form liner finish. Fractured Fin has been one of the more popular architectural finishes adopted as a standard by the Florida Department of Transportation. It has been proven to blend especially well with the surroundings and provide tremendous aesthetic appeal. The deep texture of the finish helps to moderate tonal variations inherent in concrete to give a more uniform look throughout the wall. The deep texture also discourages graffiti vandalism.

The use of five-foot square panels, with continuous joins every five feet, offers several advantages over other geometric shapes, including simplistic manufacturing, efficient installation, and tolerance for anticipated settlements. The settlement tolerance is especially important in situations where flexible MSE walls approach and surround pile-supported bridge abutments.

Because of their short-term use as interim measures in the construction phasing, the temporary wire face walls were made of black welded wire steel instead of galvanized. A total surface area of 90,000 square feet was required.

Project General Contractor, The Lane Construction Corporation, has been very successful in recent months in expediting wall construction despite unanticipated sub grade obstacles. The project’s Engineer of Record is PBS&J, and the project’s Owner is the Florida Department of Transportation. The wall portion of the project is nearing completion.

T&B Structural Systems
6800 Manhattan Blvd
Suite 304
Fort Worth, TX 76120

1-888-280-9858
817-507-0200
817-507-0197 fax