Three years in the past I sat at my desk and noticed the pictures and movies posted on-line within the aftermath of hurricane Ian. I felt a catch in my throat as I noticed what occurred to the small group simply off the coast of Fort Myers, Florida.
You see, I grew up within the state of Florida, only a few hours north in Ocala, and my household spent a number of years vacationing there. Extra just lately, regardless that I reside in Ohio now, I’ve taken my circle of relatives again there, and my kids have made recollections on the identical seashores I did once I was their age.
All of us cried over the devastation to our home-away-from-home. It was arduous sufficient eager about the loss from a distance, however we additionally considered the losses for the individuals who reside in that group whom we might grown to like and admire, in addition to, the hurt dropped at the habitat and the animals who reside there too.
Within the rapid wake of the storm, one of many greatest risks centered on the lack of the Sanibel Causeway, constructed six a long time in the past in 1963, which is the one method on-or-off the island. Regaining entry was important to the restoration efforts and emergency reduction attending to the place it was most wanted. Amazingly, in lower than thirty days, a short lived bridge was constructed to get issues transferring once more.
In June of 2025, Superior Building introduced that the complete causeway rebuild was full, together with many enhanced design and engineering options to extend the bridge’s skill to face up to extreme climate occasions like hurricanes and storm surges sooner or later.
“Hurricane Ian’s timing was notably devastating,” famous Toby Mazzoni, Space Supervisor at Superior Building, the first contractor chargeable for reconstruction. “As a result of it destroyed not solely the unique infrastructure but additionally obliterated almost $9 million price of energetic enhancements that have been about 30% full when the storm hit.”
These enhancements, which started in September 2021, included:
- New public parking areas
- Restroom amenities
- Erosion management measures
- Native landscaping
- Bear noursihment
- Further vacationer facilities
Resilient Rebuild: Classes In Reconstruction
The extent of Ian’s harm was catastrophic. The hurricane washed out all mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) partitions, breached the islands themselves, and undermined bridge approaches in any respect three areas. Greater than 280,000 cubic yards of earthwork, 8,500 cubic yards of concrete, 750,000 sq. toes of sheet piling, 30,000 tons of asphalt, and over 215,000 tons of coastal armoring have been required to rebuild. These portions barely offer you an concept of the sheer scale of the damages.
Nonetheless, inside the destruction lay a possibility to innovate and construct the causeway again, higher than it had ever been earlier than.
“We included main adjustments designed to create resilience in opposition to future hurricanes,” defined Mazzoni. Amongst these upgrades, the causeway street was elevated two toes increased, seawalls elevated from 5 to eight toes, and susceptible MSE partitions have been changed totally by cantilevered metal sheet pile partitions put in as deep as 70 toes.
These sheet pile partitions have been positioned alongside the whole size of the roadway on each side of the chain islands, and have been strengthened with “King Pile” expertise at essential areas, geared toward elevated wave resistance. King piles present important load-bearing capability and resistance to bending.
The reconstruction staff additionally took classes from Ian’s devastation to coronary heart, implementing 25,225 sq. yards of Gabion marine mattress expertise to guard in opposition to scour, an modern closed-loop underdrain system to alleviate hydrostatic pressures, and considerably upgraded coastal armoring. It required nearly 1 / 4 million tons of varied aggregates, consisting of 128,000 tons of granite armor stone, bigger and extra sturdy than conventional riprap; paired with 87,000 tons of riprap stone.
In line with Mazzoni, “These adjustments mirrored almost 60 years of development in coastal engineering, together with fashionable hurricane modeling capabilities and local weather projections that weren’t obtainable when the unique causeway was designed.”
By way of supplies, the roadway underwent substantial design adjustments to face up to tidal situations and the corrosive coastal atmosphere. Superior Building defined that conventional Florida Division of Transportation (FDOT) roadway constructions, which generally contain stabilized earth layers, have been considerably modified to take away susceptible earth components altogether. As a substitute, they employed a strong design that includes shell base, limerock/stone layers, and thicker asphalt programs. This adaptation was described as shifting from earth, stone, and asphalt, to a resilient construction of stone, asphalt, and extra asphalt.
Past asphalt, concrete specs have been tailor-made meticulously to the aggressive coastal atmosphere. The reconstruction utilized refined concrete mixtures incorporating extremely reactive pozzolans to boost resistance to saltwater intrusion. Many of the concrete used (8,500 cubic yards) had a energy of 5,500 psi, with fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) reinforcement strategically positioned in essentially the most susceptible areas, offering superior corrosion resistance in comparison with conventional metal reinforcement.
Superior expertise and novel supplies performed essential roles.
“Glass fiber polymer reinforcement was used extensively to increase infrastructure lifespan to 75 years,” said Superior Building. Furthermore, GPS-guided installations enabled exact placement of granite armor stone, essential for optimum efficiency.
The breakdown included:
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1,300 cubic yards of Class II, 3,400 psi concrete with extremely reactive pozzolan utilizing commonplace Grade 60 carbon metal reinforcement for concrete fascia (requiring 41,800 lbs of normal reinforcement).
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700 cubic yards of Class II (Bridge Deck), 4,500 psi concrete with commonplace reinforcement for concrete bridge method slabs and transition slabs (requiring 100,600 lbs of normal reinforcement).
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3,950 cubic yards of Class IV, 5,500 psi concrete with Fiber Bolstered Polymer (FRP) reinforcement for concrete bulkheads, concrete caps, and slope pavement on prime of sheet pile partitions (requiring 340,000 linear toes of FRP reinforcement).
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2,500 cubic yards of Class IV, 5,500 psi concrete with extremely reactive pozzolan utilizing commonplace reinforcement for varied concrete barrier partitions (requiring 241,600 lbs of reinforcement).
Moreover, 1,400 sq. yards of concrete slope pavement required roughly 250 cubic yards of concrete, and seven,000 linear toes of varied concrete barrier partitions contributed about 2,500 cubic yards to the entire.
Working Collectively To Get The Job Accomplished
Superior Building partnered with The de Moya Group, who supplied marine operations experience, and the design efforts have been led by Kisinger Campo & Associates with Hardesty & Hanover as a structural design subconsultant. Such large-scale collaboration required refined, multi-layered communication methods.
“Through the emergency section masking the primary 15 days, the staff performed hourly coordination conferences for real-time problem-solving,” Mazzoni famous. When typical communication channels weren’t working optimally, groups relied on whiteboards and face-to-face collaboration.
The reconstruction revealed that phased design-build supply was essential for emergency response below unsure situations, permitting the staff to start emergency repairs instantly whereas concurrently designing everlasting reconstruction.
The task-order-based construction prevented the design-builder from having to cost unknown situations within the rapid aftermath of a catastrophic hurricane, whereas collaborative price improvement proved simpler than conventional fixed-price approaches. Expertise integration classes confirmed that superior coastal modeling was important for resilient design selections, real-time collaboration was extra vital than inflexible specs, and co-location of groups was important for speedy decision-making.
Threat administration methods validated a balanced method by task-based work orders, with climate dangers throughout emergency repairs primarily borne by the proprietor, building methodology dangers allotted to the design-builder, and regulatory/allowing dangers shared between events.
The staff realized that conventional procurement strategies have been insufficient for emergency situations, and that collaborative approaches enabled speedy adaptation to challenges, together with allow expirations that threatened marine operations, provide chain boundaries overcome by extraordinary partnerships, and the profitable reconfiguration of building sequencing when marine allow limitations required switching from “outside-in” to “inside-out” building approaches.
The integration of superior supplies like FRP reinforcement and complicated concrete combine designs below emergency timelines demonstrated that high-performance building is achievable even below accelerated schedules when the staff construction helps speedy decision-making and collaborative problem-solving.
Important Applied sciences
In such a singular and troublesome atmosphere, leveraging new and modern technological belongings was important. The reconstruction leveraged cutting-edge expertise all through all undertaking phases:
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Drone expertise performed a vital position, with Propeller drone mapping offering exact amount surveying and 3D modeling capabilities, real-time streaming capabilities enabling distant progress monitoring, and preliminary harm evaluation when bodily entry was unattainable instantly after Hurricane Ian.
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Communication expertise included Starlink satellite tv for pc communications to take care of dependable connectivity when conventional telecommunications infrastructure was compromised.
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Precision set up utilized GPS-guided set up expertise for essential coastal safety components, notably for the exact placement of the 128,000 tons of granite armor stone, and International Navigation Satellite tv for pc System (GNSS) with Automated Machine Management (AMC) for exact structure and set up.
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Evaluation expertise included actuality seize applied sciences for underwater bridge basis assessments and remote-operated submersible automobiles for detailed subsurface harm documentation that will have been troublesome to evaluate by conventional diving operations.
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Superior modeling included Constructing Info Modeling (BIM) for advanced coordination of utilities, drainage, and structural components inside the restricted causeway footprint, together with refined ADCIRC and SWAN coastal engineering modeling that enabled the staff to simulate Hurricane Ian’s impacts and make essential, data-driven design selections for everlasting reconstruction.
Shifting On, Shifting Ahead
Key classes from Hurricane Ian reshaped shoreline safety methods drastically. As Superior Building defined, evaluation of the storm highlighted the inadequacies of earlier coastal safety measures, driving a complete overhaul of seawalls, armoring, and embedment methods.
This new method proved its price through the 2024 hurricane season when the rebuilt sections of the causeway withstood hurricanes Debby, Helene, and Milton with minimal harm. Whereas everybody else may need been holding their breath throughout these storms, for the contractors, this was real-world validation of their resilience methods.
Upkeep and lifecycle concerns additionally factored closely into design selections. In line with Superior Building, the causeway’s new infrastructure anticipates short-term inundation throughout storms however ensures speedy restoration of performance as soon as waters recede. The design, backed by superior modeling and exact supplies choice, considerably reduces long-term upkeep necessities.
The undertaking’s modern practices and profitable administration below intense emergency situations have established the Superior-de Moya Joint Enterprise as leaders in coastal infrastructure resilience.
“We have acquired awards and recognition from a number of trade organizations,” Mazzoni shared, reinforcing the affect and effectiveness of their efforts.
For street builders and asphalt producers nationwide, the Sanibel Causeway reconstruction presents an important blueprint for constructing resilience into infrastructure. It demonstrates not solely reply rapidly to disasters however emerge stronger, higher ready, and able to stand up to the forces of nature—no matter comes subsequent.
