Map courtesy of GDOT

The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) said Jan. 3 that it had chosen a general contractor to oversee a $189 million project to raise Savannah`s towering Eugene Talmadge Memorial Bridge so that today's larger cargo ships traveling up and down the Savannah River can pass underneath and reach one of the nation's busiest seaports.

Kiewit Infrastructure South Co. will serve as the general contractor on the maintenance and construction project, designed to replace the existing cables across the main span of the structure, along with bridge bearings and joints.

GDOT noted on its project website that Kiewit also will explore shortening the cables to reprofile the existing cable-stayed bridge to obtain a higher vertical clearance which may improve ship navigation within the channel.

Built in 1991, the Talmadge Memorial Bridge carries four lanes of traffic on U.S. Highway 17/Ga. 404 Spur between downtown Savannah and the South Carolina state line. With a main span of 1,100 ft. and a total length of 1.9 mi., the beautiful structure currently provides 185 ft. of vertical navigational clearance for oceangoing ships sailing to or from the Port of Savannah, the fourth-busiest U.S. port for cargo shipped in containers.

The AP reported that Kiewit expects to begin work on the bridge project in the first quarter of 2025.

Officials with the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) began calling for the bridge to be replaced more than five years ago, saying its clearance will eventually be too low to accommodate growing classes of cargo ships.

GDOT's solution, at least for now, is to replace and shorten the bridge`s massive cables to raise its center span by an additional 20 ft. The state agency told the AP that most of the work can be done without closing the bridge to traffic.

"That's something we're confident can be accomplished in a safe fashion," said Kyle Collins, a GDOT spokesperson, "though there will have to be some temporary closures."

The transportation department signed off on the Savannah bridge raising effort one year ago and had been seeking to hire a general contractor early so the firm could consult on the project while it is still in the design phase.

Collins noted that Kiewit was awarded $6.5 million for pre-construction services and will provide GDOT with additional costs for the Talmadge Memorial Bridge's construction once a final design has been selected.

The state agency noted that pre-construction work will begin within the first quarter of 2024, and collaboration between the project's designer, Parsons Transportation Group, based in Chantilly, Va., and Kiewit will occur throughout the year as GDOT prepares for full construction.

Alternative Plan Also Under Consideration

Griff Lynch, president and CEO of the state's Port Authority, said that GPA's $1.9 billion investment to grow Savannah's cargo handling capacity needs to be met with taxpayer-funded infrastructure upgrades. Less than two years after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers finished a $973 million deepening of the Savannah River shipping channel, his agency is already seeking congressional authorization to study another round of dredging.

Meanwhile, even as it prepares to raise the Talmadge Memorial Bridge, GDOT is simultaneously studying a long-term project to either replace the structure altogether with an even taller bridge or build a tunnel allowing cars to travel beneath the river.

A September 2022 report estimated those costs could reach $2 billion.

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