Benicia-Martinez New Bridge Design

Seismic Evaluation and Independent Check

Opened August 27, 2007, the new Benicia-Martinez Bridge crosses the Carquinez Strait between the city of Benicia in Solano County and the city of Martinez in Contra Costa County. The 8,790-ft.-long bridge, which carries northbound traffic along Interstate 680, effectively doubles the capacity of the existing crossing and serves as a lifeline for Northern California. This new five-lane toll bridge is more than 82 ft. wide, and aligned east and parallel to the existing six-lane Benicia-Martinez Bridge and Union Pacific Railroad Bridge.

SC Solutions' scope for this project included the following activities:

• Conducted an independent check of the design of this very important structure,
• Developed the shore-to-shore global finite elements to evaluate the behavior of the bridge under seismic design loads,
• Detailed bridge foundation system in the model to include each individual pile and surrounding soil,
• Studied and summarized the effects of the biaxial interaction soil pile system,
• Delivered a comprehensive independent report.