Concrete spill on S.C. 707 and 31 road project creates rocky mess

A rocky mess was created on the S.C. 707 and S.C. 31 road construction project last week after workers building a bridge abutment poured concrete into the form, but instead of hardening the form failed and spewed concrete from within the structure.

Road crews had to wait until the concrete hardened after the Nov. 25 incident so they could use jackhammers to break up the lumpy spill, as well as the hardened rock inside of the structure, before hauling it away, said Lisa Bourcier, Horry County spokeswoman.

“The temperature was too cold and affected the pour rate, which meant it poured faster than what it should have and the form could not support the pressure, and that’s when it spilled over,” Bourcier said.

The bridge designer and state transportation officials will have to approve a new plan for the abutment before construction can proceed to make sure the failure doesn’t happen again, Bourcier said.

The contractor, Flatiron Construction, will be responsible for the cost of the correction, she said.

“It does not appear that it will affect our overall timeline for completion of the project,” Bourcier said. “They still have two years left on the project. I don’t anticipate any delays.”

The $237 million project to extend S.C. 31 to about S.C. 707 has been a multi-year project funded mostly by State Infrastructure Bank Funds, and in part with American Recovery and Investment Act Funds and local matching dollars. The nearly four-mile extension will be a multi-lane highway that includes a bridge over the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. Construction is slated to be completed by spring 2017.

Jack Correia of Myrtle Beach has been an observer of the construction project’s progress, and said he watched for more than a month as construction workers built the form and installed the reinforcement steel rebar.

“When it busted a hole, that rebar just twisted around and looked like spaghetti. It made a mess,” Correia said. “It must have scared the hell out of them, they’re lucky no one got killed.”

Audrey Hudson 843-444-1765

@AudreyHudson

This story was originally published December 2, 2015 at 2:38 PM with the headline "Concrete spill on S.C. 707 and 31 road project creates rocky mess."