Pape-Dawson designed roadway approaches to widen and rehabilitate the US 281 northbound and southbound bridges at the Medina River.
The bridges are located immediately downstream of a severe bend in the river; however, after researching bridge inspection records, channel history, and existing vegetation along the channel bed, we concluded local pier scour was the main concern.
Pape-Dawson performed hydraulic and scour analyses and recommended local pier scour countermeasures. The structural engineer for this project also lengthened the depth of the drill shafts for the proposed foundations to account for the calculated local pier scour.
