by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
The Jacksonville Transportation Authority began a four-month process Wednesday night in which dozens of the concrete support towers for the Skyway will be reinforced with a state-of-the-art treatment that will, in theory, last forever.
Last summer, JTA engineers discovered hairline fractures of the towers at several spots along the line. Although it was impossible to determine the actual depth of the cracks, JTA officials took precautionary measures and installed shore towers at two locations — one just west of City Hall and the other at the corner of Hogan and Adams streets. At first glance, the presence of the shore towers indicated that the Skyway may have serious structural issues and could possibly be unsafe to ride.
Marci Larson, manager of communications and marketing for JTA, said at the time shore towers were installed mainly to allow engineers to examine the cracks and determine when and how the cracks would be repaired. The when is easy — from now until late August or early September. The how isn’t easy, but it is interesting.
“We are using an epoxy resin,” said Stephanie Barker of JTA’s communications department. “The towers will be wrapped in a carbon fiber polymer, which will make them five times the strength of steel. The material is actually like the stuff that bulletproof vests are made of.”
After this stage, Barker said the columns will be black, but that won’t last long. The next step will be to coat them with a material consistent with concrete and then painted to match the rest of the Skyway.
Because the workers won’t be able to work while the Skyway is in service, all of the work will be done at night.
“They will work Wednesday through Saturday, from 7 p.m. until 5:30 a.m.,” said Barker. “And, they won’t have to use the support towers. Those were just precautionary measures.”
According to JTA, the cracks are a design flaw. Although not every support tower is exhibiting cracks, as a preventative measure JTA is going to treat 50 support towers along the line on both sides of the river. Unfortunately, JTA may also have to pick up the entire tab for the $250,000 repair job. Recouping at least a portion of the expenses may be impossible.
“We’re trying. The company that did the design is now out of business,” said Barker.
The company, Kaiser, was the design/construction engineering firm when construction on the Skyway started in 1989. In the summer of 2000, Kaiser went bankrupt and was bought out by Earth Tech Consulting, Inc. Barker said it is still being determined whether Earth Tech bought Kaiser’s liabilities along with its assets.
The peak hours of ridership for the Skyway will not be affected by the repair job. Normally, the Skyway runs from 6 a.m. until 11 p.m., Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. until 11 p.m. on Saturday. Until the work is done, the Skyway will stop running just before 7 p.m.