Pairing Precast Concrete to Cast in Place in Wine Country

Engineered to divert water into adjacent wetlands during storm events, the four box culvert structures under the new Peatman Drive in Napa, California, are designed to prevent flooding of a recently developed commercial site on Soscol Avenue. That’s the easy part. Connecting the structures under the road took some creative thinking for the engineers at Jensen Precast.

Napa sits in the southern region of Napa County, where award winning wines are made for consumers the world over. Near the downtown district, a new development called the Gasser Master Plan aims to pair residents with housing and business opportunities in a land known for limited vacancies. The plan adds an apartment complex, auto dealerships, and new stores. It also adds sidewalks, streets, trails, pedestrian bridges, and more, including infrastructure to handle heavy weather events.

The Soscol Avenue redevelopment and the extension of Gasser Drive are both central to the overall advancement of the Napa area for residents and tourists alike. Jensen Precast was asked to get involved to connect cast in place concrete structures to precast concrete products.

“Foulk Engineering and the City of Napa were looking for a way to connect field poured wingwalls and bridge parapets to the proposed box culvert structure,” says Tim Pellegrini, Jensen Precast Sacramento Project Manager. “The Jensen Precast engineering team was able to design a solution that provided the side and top sections of culvert with cast-in threaded dowels. These dowels allowed the field poured wingwalls and parapet walls to be structurally tied to the culvert.”

The box culvert part of the project was 10’W x 6’L x 6’H. Precast concrete slabs were 11’3”W x 8’L x 12”H. No. 5 threaded dowels were used to tie the whole structure together.

Connecting field poured or cast in place structures with precast concrete is an example of Jensen Precast engineers designing a solution to fit a project already in progress. The outcome for the project was a cost-efficient and deadline-driven way to keep the Gasser Master Plan moving, the Soscol corridor drained in the event of a flood, and the City of Napa growing anew.

If your project calls for some creative engineering thinking, contact us today for an expert solution.