Delaware Department of Transportation

Delaware Department of Transportation | Projects

Projects

Indian River Inlet Bridge

	Why A New Bridge? Dennis O'Shea Dennis O'Shea is the Assistant Director of Design for DelDOT. He has 22 years of experience in bridge design and management. He has been involved with the current Indian River Inlet bridge replacement project from its inception.
The reason for replacing the bridge is the severe scouring that has taken place over the years, resulting in an Inlet depth of approximately 28 feet in 1965, to an Inlet depth greater than 100 feet today. The Army Corps first reported evidence of significant scouring in the 1980s after an underwater survey indicated that the bridge supports, also known as piers, in the Inlet were exposed and undermined. An additional concern related to the scour is the exposure of the steel H piles to salt water. H- Piles are the support piles for the piers. Water, especially salt water, is detrimental to steel. DelDOT attempted to control the condition of the steel piles by installing a protection system to the piles. Unfortunately, this system has been problematic and the exposed steel support piles are continuing to corrode, losing strength. Read Dennis O'Shea's Entire Report
Related Documents Purpose and Need 57 Years of Coastal Engineering Practices at a Problem Inlet: 1992 Report (Army Corps of Engineers) "Indian River Inlet: An Evaluation by the Committee on Tidal Hydraulics", July 1994 (Army Corps of Engineers) January 2006 Bathymetric Survey Raw Data (Army Corps of Engineers)
Bathymetric Survey The submerged equivalent of above water topographic maps. They are designed to present accurate, measurable description and visual presentation of the submerged terrain.
1999 Bathymetric Survey (Army Corps of Engineers) 2004 Bathymetric Survey (Army Corps of Engineers) 1999 Bathymetric Survey (Army Corps of Engineers) 2004 Bathymetric Survey (Army Corps of Engineers) 1999 Bathymetric Survey (Army Corps of Engineers) 2004 Bathymetric Survey (Army Corps of Engineers) 1999 Bathymetric Survey Plan View (Army Corp of Engineers) 1999 Bathymetric Survey Looking East (Army Corp of Engineers) 2003 Aerial View (Army Corp of Engineers) 2004 Bathymetric Survey Looking East (Army Corp of Engineers) 2004 Bathymetric Survey Looking West (Army Corp of Engineers)