HomeMy WebLinkAboutSN 13398 Narrative Aurelius over Pawlowski Creek 2017
BIENNIAL BRIDGE INSPECTION SUMMARY
AURELIUS ROAD OVER PAWLOWSKI CREEK DRAIN
STRUCTURE NUMBER – 13398
CITY OF LANSING, MI
October 10, 2017
Tetra Tech
401 South Washington Square, Suite 100, Lansing, MI 48933
Tel 517.316.3930 Fax 517.484.8140 www.tetratech.com
The Aurelius Road Culvert at the Pawlowski Creek Drain consists of two
galvanized steel corrugated steel plate arched pipes. The larger north
pipe is the main culvert while the south pipe is for overflow during high
water events. The construction date of the culvert is listed as 1978. The
culvert is in poor condition.
STEEL CULVERT PIPES
South Culvert Pipe
The floor of the south culvert pipe has cast‐in‐place concrete floor slab the full length. At the west end of
the pipe, there is an older 29‐foot long section of slab. The remainder of the concrete slab to the east
was placed in 2012 to prevent further erosion of the culvert backfill and buckling of the pipe due to rust
holes along the waterline.
Both sides of the pipe are rusty for 4” to 6” above the top of concrete with numerous holes. The
corrosion is heaviest along the south side with holes counted in 63 (of 133) pipe corrugations, which
accounts for approximately 45% of the pipe length. Stones up to 1” diameter are coming out of many of
the rust holes, particularly at mid‐length of the pipe. The majority of the rust holes (53) are in the
eastern half of the pipe. The other 10 holes are at the west end of the pipe. On the north side, holes
were counted in 23 of the corrugations towards the east end of the pipe, which is an increase of 9 holes.
All of these holes are opposite holes on the south side. In addition to the holes noted, the steel plate
could easily be penetrated with a pick hammer at numerous other locations, particularly at the
southeast end of the pipe.
There is a 42” diameter concrete storm sewer pipe penetration in the southwest quadrant of the south
pipe. The storm water runoff from this pipe flows to the west (upstream side of the culvert). In the
northwest quadrant (opposite the 42” pipe) there is a patch on the corrugated steel pipe wall. The wall
was partially cut with a 31” long horizontal cut flanked by two 17” tall vertical cuts. The cuts were
stuffed with plastic bags and a piece of plastic sheeting and then covered with concrete or mortar on the
outside face. There are two small rips in the steel below the patch. The top of the culvert pipe has
deflected adjacent to the sewer pipe. There is also deflection at the top of the corrugated steel pipe near
the east end.
The older portion of the slab is heavily cracked at the east end, particularly adjacent to the 42” storm
sewer. There are two transverse (north to south direction) cracks at the 42” pipe and random diagonal
cracks for about 15‐feet both east and west of the pipe. Along the north corrugated steel pipe wall,
there is a gap between the concrete slab and the steel corrugations which indicate movement has
occurred. The maximum width of the gap is 1”. The location of the gap roughly corresponds to where
buckling of the floor was noted during the 2011 inspection and is also opposite the most severe
corrosion occurring on the south wall. On the west end, there is water leaking out of the joint between
the concrete slab and corrugated steel pipe. There is some map cracking at the east end. There is also
some silt buildup with weeds/grass growing at the east end.
Tetra Tech
401 South Washington Square, Suite 100, Lansing, MI 48933
Tel 517.316.3930 Fax 517.484.8140 www.tetratech.com
North Culvert Pipe
The north pipe bottom has moderate corrosion on both sides along the waterline. At the westernmost
end on the north side of the pipe, there is a 4’‐8” long x 3’‐6” wide area with rust holes along the
waterline. Grout that was previously placed in this area has mostly eroded away. There is about a 2”
difference in elevation at the west end of the pipe, indicating either buckling of the pipe at the end or
settlement adjacent to the end. There are two 2” holes along the south easternmost end of the pipe.
There is a 12” diameter concrete storm sewer pipe penetration in the northwest quadrant of the
corrugated steel pipe wall. There is an accumulation of silt and small stones on the floor with grass and
weeds growing at the east end.
CONCRETE HEADWALLS
East Headwall
The east concrete headwall has leaching horizontal cracks at the base between the pipes. There are
minor cracks with efflorescence over the south pipe and some minor honeycombing over the north pipe
on the south side. There is a vertical crack adjacent to the northeast wingwall.
West Headwall
The west concrete headwall has leaching hairline cracks over the north pipe. There is a horizontal crack
at the base between the pipes which has about a 1/8” displacement. There is scaling across the top of
the wall with shallow spalling over both pipes. There is a vertical crack adjacent to both the southwest
and northwest wingwalls. There is minor spalling on the face of the wall immediately below the south
culvert pipe. The maximum depth of spalling is 2 1/2".
ROAD SURFACE
The road surface consists of bituminous pavement with concrete curb and gutter. There is a large
transverse crack both north and south of the culvert with a 2 foot square patch at the south crack in the
southbound lane. There is a large patch (12 foot x 12 foot) in the southbound lane over the south culvert
pipe. There is some minor cracking and spalling of the concrete curb. There is a single beam guardrail on
each side of the road. The guardrail has some minor dents and the guardrail endings are damaged in the
northwest and southeast quadrants.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Replace or rehabilitate culvert.
Replace northwest and southeast guardrail endings.