Expanding the Boundaries of Human Endeavor, One Bridge at a Time

“The design for the NASA Causeway Bridge uses normal concrete and steel construction materials and is based on specialty design vehicles requirements to accommodate the oversized transports of flight hardware and construction materials,” said Jim Lynch, PE, senior vice president for construction management at WSP and senior project engineer. “You could say that standard vehicle bridges in the U.S. are built to NASA standards.”

The new NASA Causeway Bridge connects the NASA Parkway in Titusville to Cape Canaveral, replacing a twin-span drawbridge built in 1964 that served the space program well, but whose time had come for a much-needed and safer replacement more suited to supporting the modern demands of the aerospace industry.

“The old bridge was located in a harsh saltwater environment and the piling was starting to break down, so many of the bigger loads had to start using a bridge about 15 miles away,” Lynch said. “The causeway bridge provides a straight shot of about four miles from facilities directly on the west side of the causeway bridge that feed material and equipment to the Space Center.”

When you consider many of these oversized vehicles travel at speeds as low as two miles per hour, a difference of 10-plus miles is substantial.

The solution? A two-phase, $127 million bridge replacement project in partnership with NASA, Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) and Space Florida. Since the new bridge broke ground in 2021, we have provided construction, engineering and inspection (CEI) service for FDOT District 5, overseeing the project’s Tampa-based contractor, Orion Marine Group.

The first phase of the project — the 53-foot, eight-inch-wide eastbound bridge — was completed in June 2023, 125 days ahead of schedule, and is 11 feet wider than the westbound bridge and 20-feet, seven-inches wider than the original bridge. Currently, work is progressing on the westbound bridge.

“The eastbound bridge going into the Cape was built wider to accommodate the large transports that support the Space Center, and to maintain four lanes of traffic on one bridge while the second bridge was constructed,” said Barry Johnson, assistant vice president of construction management at WSP.

When completed, the parallel bridges will increase safety and connectivity for vehicles traveling across both spans — they are primary access for tourists visiting the Kennedy Space Center — and will improve marine traffic along the intercoastal waters below.

One important differentiation between the NASA Causeway Bridge and standard vehicle bridges is the slope angle entering and exiting the span.

Since the bridge crosses intercoastal water, it is required to provide a 65-foot clearance over the navigation channel to allow for the passage of watercraft below – something that wasn’t required for the preceding draw bridge.

“The NASA Causeway slope is a little flatter because the bridge has to accommodate the larger payloads,” Lynch said. “Typically, a bridge would be around a five to seven percent slope, but the NASA Causeway bridge is limited to three percent, which just makes the bridge a little bit longer to accommodate the difference.”

It is a subtle but significant difference when considering the weight and shape of some of the oversized materials — which NASA refers to as “flight hardware” — required for the spacecraft launched by NASA, Space Force and Space X at the Space Port.

“Some of these loads are just unbelievable,” Lynch said. “We recently had one that was about 80 feet tall. By comparison, the trucks we see on the road are no greater than 15-17 feet in height. So an 80-foot load? That’s pretty big.”

Another vehicle Lynch estimated at 300 feet in length and 50 feet high. Considering the slow speed for these vehicles, ensuring that lane closures are not occurring when these vehicles are crossing is also an important consideration.

“The vehicles that are used to transport these loads are also rather special,” Johnson added. “The allowable load can’t exceed certain limits per axle, so the load is spread out over multiple axles and wheels. They are just amazing vehicles.”

The new bridge was built to meet modern requirements for hurricane resiliency. The three recent hurricanes that pounded Florida – Debby in August, Helene in September and Milton in October – put both the bridge’s durability and resiliency of the construction site workers to the test.

“This is an area that experiences hurricane conditions every summer,” Lynch said. “Orion Marine Group and WSP are familiar with how to handle these situations and what to do for structures in these areas. We were prepared.”

Since the bridge is still actively under construction, Lynch said they needed to “safe up” project materials and equipment several days before each storm, and lash all of the barges in the area together to ride out the fierce wind, water and waves.

He said the impact of Helene, which tracked up the west coast of Florida, was fairly light, but the other two were direct hits. All three required work to halt for an extended period of time, with Milton requiring a full seven-day stoppage.

Most of the repairs following the storm were minor, and most of the damage was centered around shore erosion caused by the fierce weather. Lynch said that local officials are considering the possibility of future environmental work after completion of the bridge that will involve shore protection initiatives along the intercoastal waterway.

Part of our responsibility as the CEI manager is to manage the “weather days” — when construction crews are unable to safely work — and ensure that all necessary documentation is completed on time. We are responsible for providing the proper record of those missed days, as defined by the contract, and that contractor incentive dates are adjusted.

Early completion of the eastbound span resulted in a $3 million incentive payment for the contractor. Our monitoring and recording of weather incidents will play a critical role in determining when the Phase 2 deadline is reached. If the westbound span is completed by March 19, 2025, it will result in a $2 million incentive payment for the contractor.

Despite the hurricane delays, Lynch said the bridge is ahead of schedule and is optimistic it will be completed by summer 2025, a full year ahead of allowable contract time.

Since the eastbound span opened, the number of oversized loads crossing the bridge has increased significantly. Lynch estimates it has gone from about 50 per year using the bascule bridge, to 50 every month.

While that increased traffic could hamper construction efforts, through careful tracking and awareness, it has not posed significant problems or delays. Additionally, many of the larger loads are timed to cross during the nighttime, when impact is minimal.

Occasionally, the eye-popping space launches themselves will cause minor disruptions to the construction schedule. But the construction team has strategies in place to minimize the impact.

Part of the construction team’s weekly progress meetings includes a discussion about upcoming launches and to coordinate all work. When it’s a live crew launch, odds are greater that it will attract more attention and crowds can cause delays, even with the best plans in place.

“The entire causeway is federal land, and the security badging station is on the west side of the bridge, right in front of our field trailer,” Lynch said. “So when there is a big launch that attracts the public, there’s so much traffic that it’s difficult to even get into the office.”

He said the construction team’s good working relationship with FDOT and NASA, and open lines of communication, have been critical to the pace of progress the construction team has been able to maintain.

“Even though NASA owns the causeway, they understand their expertise is in space craft development and space exploration, not roadway and bridge construction,” Lynch said.

For this reason, NASA has relied on FDOT and our team for the project’s contract administration, construction management and inspection.

“They have been really happy that this project is so far ahead of schedule, and that we’ve solved problems and are capable of moving issues forward,” he added. “I’m pleased that WSP has had the opportunity to play a major role on the project to reach this point.”