Severn River Bridge Named Project Of The Year Finalist By ENR

ANNAPOLIS, MD — The U.S. 50/Severn River Bridge median barrier replacement and lane reconfiguration project has been named a "best project and project of the year finalist" by Engineering News Record. U.S. 50 crossing the Severn River from MD 70 to MD2/MD450 was a sizable project spearheaded by the Maryland State Highway Administration and seeks to eliminate the massive backlog of traffic that typically occurs on Fridays when people head to the beach.

According to ENR, project judges were "impressed with what one calls the 'really complex' challenge of carrying out the expansion in the middle of a busy highway." One judge noted that Roads & Bridges listed the project as one of the Top 10 bridge projects in 2018. The judge also observed that the team earned the maximum incentive by finishing the $18.3-million project 38 days ahead of schedule and within budget.

To accommodate for traffic flow, most of the topside work on the bridge was limited to nighttime hours, but reaching the underside required barges and a suspended work platform, the nomination form stated. Right-of-entry agreements with adjacent property owners allowed grading, drainage, environmental and shoulder-widening work to take place on a less restrictive schedule.

Despite working near active traffic, working over water and performing major work during nighttime hours, the project team says it had “no major safety incidents” and zero lost-time accidents. The project had a 2.40 OSHA Recordable Incident Rate during more than 83,300 worker-hours performed.