GHTD Pile Design
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Project Description
CEI worked with the Greater Hartford Transit District (GHTD) on the development of a new paratransit maintenance and operations facility in East Hartford, CT. CEI provided comprehensive engineering services including facility site layout and design and the engineering of drainage, utility, building foundations, and parking facilities.
As part of the facility programing and cost evaluation process, the GHTD determined that a new building on site would better meet their long-term needs. CEI performed final design services for the hazardous materials remediation and demolition of the existing buildings and the construction of a new operations/maintenance building.
CEI worked with GHTD’s architectural consulting team to plan and develop site layout plans which meet the long-term needs of the GHTD and comply with the Town of East Hartford regulatory standards for site development. CEI provided all engineering for the local permitting process and obtained approval for wetlands, site plan and erosion and sedimentation control. To garner these approvals, CEI detailed plans for stormwater management, detention facilities, sanitary sewers, water supply, site grading, and parking layout.
In addition, CEI provided geotechnical engineering design for building foundation systems. The presence of fat clays to a depth of 100 feet below ground surface complicated the geotechnical evaluation. The testing program included unconsolidated undrained consolidation and shear testing. The testing results indicated the building and structure would be subject to excessive settlements.
A detailed evaluation of alternatives was conducted including the use of light weight concrete, light weight fill, and high strength light weight foam fill for foundation support. Ultimately, steel H-pile foundations were chosen to support the structure.
CEI provided construction oversight of the pile foundations, pile load tests, utility installations, and site improvements.
The project parcel contains 5.37 acres, a 30,000 SF two story operations building and parking for 179 combined bus and personnel vehicles. The extensive pavement required the use of both below ground and above ground systems for compliance with storm water quality and zero increase in run off requirements. CEI interfaced with CTDEEP, the MDC, and Town of East Hartford in obtaining all site improvement permits.
