How Do You Get To The Other Side?
Venice isn't the only canal-lined city. Miami has them too. In both cities, the canals present transportation and traffic problems.
The Union Bank in Miami had to figure out how to get people and cars across the canal to their customer parking lot. To do this they needed to enclose the canal for an access road into the lot. Contractor Downrite Engineering Corporation was hired to find a solution that would be cost effective and easy and quick to install. Their solution was in the form of a very large aluminum structural plate sold under the trade name of Dur•A•Span™.
AIL manufactures aluminum structures that are 1/50th the weight of concrete and one-third the weight of steel. They're highly resistant to corrosion-abrasion cycles because of aluminum's tough oxide surface film. And they have a life span of 75 years. This means that the culverts will stand up to corrosion from the water in the canal, even over long periods of time.
Jay Butterfield, field superintendent of Downrite Engineering, was very happy with the product and the ease with which it went together. "The Dur•A•Span™ structures are as easy to install as they are strong. Because of the lightness of the product, handling and installing of structures was very easy and was done with a crew of four operating light-duty lifting equipment. The whole structure took only six days to assemble and assembly took place on the canal bank, ensuring a minimum of downtime for the bank and its customers."
The structure, with a minimum cover, used a concrete slab for load distribution. Completed diameter for the aluminum structural plate was 13 feet and the length was 138 feet. Height of cover was 1' - 6".
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