Pulice – a FlatironDragados company has completed drilled shaft foundations for ADOT’s new eastbound I-10 bridge at the Gila River Bridge project in Pinal County, advancing a major structural phase on one of Arizona’s key transportation corridors.
The milestone was delivered through an intensive double-shift operation, with drill crews and pour crews working simultaneously to construct two drilled shafts each night for the nearly 1,400-foot-long eastbound crossing. The completed shafts will serve as critical deep foundation elements for the new bridge, transferring dead load, live traffic load, wind, seismic forces, thermal effects and stream and scour-related demands into competent subsurface materials.
Each shaft measured 7 feet in diameter, with depths reaching up to 116 feet. In this design, the shafts derive capacity through a combination of end bearing and skin friction, with shaft depth and surface area playing a significant role in developing axial resistance. By extending into dense soil layers and well below potential scour depth, the foundations are designed to provide long-term vertical and lateral stability for the new crossing.
Drilled shaft foundation details
- Installed for the nearly 1,400-foot-long eastbound river crossing
- Constructed during a double-shift operation with drill and pour crews working concurrently
- Production rate reached two shafts per night
- Shaft diameter: 7 feet
- Shaft depth: up to 116 feet
- Designed to transfer structural, traffic, wind, seismic and thermal loads
- Extended into dense soil layers to provide foundational stability
- Developed axial capacity in part through skin friction
- Installed below potential scour depth to help maintain stability if upper soil layers erode
This milestone follows completion of the old eastbound bridge demolition, which cleared the way for the next major phase of foundation and structural work. Together, those steps mark visible progress in replacing the aging crossing with a higher, stronger and more resilient bridge over the Gila River.
The broader I-10 Bridges over the Gila River Bridge project will replace aging 1964-era bridges with new three-lane bridges with full-width shoulders and reconstructed approaches designed to improve long-term reliability on this critical route.
Our project is a key part of the broader I-10 Wild Horse Pass Corridor improvement effort. This 26-mile stretch between Loop 202 in south Phoenix and State Route 387 near Casa Grande serves as a major freight route, a commuter corridor and an important connection for drivers in the growing regions south of Phoenix.
With drilled shafts now complete for the eastbound crossing, Pulice continues moving the work forward in close coordination with ADOT and looks ahead to completing the project later this year.