Flatiron West, Inc.

Scope Of Work

In between Escondido and Rancho Bernardo, Calif., Flatiron constructed the Lake Hodges Bicycle/Pedestrian Bridge, a 990-foot long stress-ribbon bridge designed to connect the expansive network of trails on both shores of Lake Hodges with minimal impact on the surrounding environment. It is the longest stress-ribbon bridge in the world and the sixth bridge of its kind in the United States.

A temporary bridge, or trestle, gave workers access to the two points in the crossing where the bridge’s support columns were built. At the piers, large cofferdams were constructed and dewatering operations were implemented to install driven pile, build concrete spread footings and cast the hourglass shaped columns. The formwork used to create the unique shape of the columns combined timber panels with high density laser cut polystyrene to ensure the architect’s design would be accurately portrayed. A falsework system for the cast-in-place closure pour, designed to facilitate working over water, was mounted to the columns and required no poles or footings on the ground.