How This Bridge Was Rebuilt in 15 Days After Hurricane Ian

The Sanibel Causeway was rendered completely impassable to vehicles. Less than a month later, it was open to traffic.
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Both Florida DOT and Superior Construction were contacted for comment on this story. FDOT declined to comment, and Superior Construction did not respond to multiple emails.
Barrier islands are critical to protecting mainland coasts by absorbing wave energy and bearing the brunt of storms. But development on the islands negates that critical purpose. That doesn’t mean the community doesn’t belong there. But it does obligate the planners and engineers involved in rebuilding to be thoughtful about the impacts hurricanes can have and how infrastructure can be made more resilient to them in the future.
Practical Engineering is a KZbin channel about infrastructure and the human-made world around us. It is hosted, written, and produced by Grady Hillhouse. We have new videos posted regularly, so please subscribe for updates. If you enjoyed the video, hit that ‘like’ button, give us a comment, or watch another of our videos!
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[@PracticalEngineeringChannel]

Thanks for the great year! What was your favorite Practical Engineering video of 2022?

[@christinacody8653]

I think the one about the Texas electrical outage was an interesting one.

[@FondlesHandles]

it took me an embarrassingly long time to realize why small numbers of rising water was so bad. in context to this, a 13 foot rise in water doesnt sound all that bad if you dont measure in the vertical. 13 feet out is not 13 feet up. perhaps you could make a video on that to explain why small numbers make big differences.

[@dalewun]

New Harbor Bridge over the Port of Corpus Christi. I helped with utility adjustment planning for the approaches. But no longer live there, so your video was most informative source for its status.

[@postman666andrei]

I personally love your "engineering in plain sight" series. So often when driving or walking I notice something and wonder "whats that?", and it can be really hard to find a solid answer by googling "cylinder wire doohicky". Thank you for all of your hard work!

[@kartyl1wielki]

One of my favorites is a recent video on Nuclear EMP. A lot of information with great explanation. As always, I might add. Also, using the occasion - I wish You and Your loved ones a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year :)

[@aureaphilos]

Another factor that allowed the project to be 'completed' in such short order was the fact that the contractors did not have to maintain traffic flow during construction. When crews can work on an entire roadway without traffic or moving barriers, crews have more freedom of movement and can operate without fast-moving cars and trucks just feet away.

[@billmadison2032]

Very good point, never thought about that myself

[@SteinGauslaaStrindhaug]

I've always said (as a joke obviously) that we should build a duplicate of all cities, so that when we need to opgrade roads etc we could all juts move to the duplicate city and then move back when the same upgrades should be done in the duplicate city...

[@gregdubya1993]

@@SteinGauslaaStrindhaug hot swappable city...IT engineer turned city planner.

[@dondumitru7093]

The City of Bellevue, WA (and presumably other cities, but I know about Bellevue) has scheduled several significant freeway construction projects to take place at night, when either the entire NB or SB can be fully closed. The approach seems to be very successful, with those projects overall completing what to my eye is much faster.

[@UncleKennysPlace]

@@dondumitru7093 They do that at the Ohio/Kentucky border for work on I71/75. Which is continuous.

[@00dmb5]

Grady, as a fellow licensed PE, thank YOU for putting so much effort and heart into all of your videos. You're providing an invaluable service to the whole profession!

[@johnsmith1474]

How is this valuable to the profession? It's a pop culture entertainment.

[@00dmb5]

@@johnsmith1474 Mr. Smith, engineering requires continuous education, exposure to new subjects and topics, as seemingly unrelated as politics and economics because they impact engineering. Further, this channel makes engineering more accessible to the general public, which helps the public answer their questions for themselves, while also providing an avenue for fellow professionals to find better answers for issues and questions of their own.

[@DemPilafian]

*Grady for President 2024!* 🗽🇺🇸🗽 The only practical, sane, level-headed choice.

[@scotthemedic]

@@johnsmith1474 maybe if you weren't such an negative person you wouldn't feel that way. Your KZbin comments are all negativity.

[@robertroberts5218]

Mr Berry, is there perhaps a professional award Mr. Hillhouse could be nominated for? Education, public outreach, positive PR...something?

[@theheresiarch3740]

Grady, next you should do the exact opposite end of the bridge building spectrum and look at how it took like two years to rebuild a single span of the bridge in Pensacola after Hurricane Sally. As a bonus, all the equipment was still sitting there because they'd literally just finished building the bridge when the hurricane hit.

[@JasperJanssen]

A bridge span is not a causeway.

[@davidgriffin9247]

@@JasperJanssen no need to be a pedant, you know what they mean

[@BilCook]

Sally took out more than a single section of the outbound bridge, the only portion completed at the time of Sally's landfall on Sept 16th, 2020. The outbound lane was reopened the Friday before Memorial Weekend 2021, 255 days after the bridge was damaged. A short time, considering how much damage there was, time to clear away the fallen sections and repair and replace multiple sections in the middle of a bay. The inbound side was nowhere close to being finished when Sally hit. While the project is well over budget and way past its original completion date, the repairs to the destroyed sections AND the hidden shock damage sections found in early spring of 2021 were completed in an amazingly short time, all things considered. Without that hidden shock damage, the outbound lane would have opened in March of 2021 or 5 months later. While I do not defend Skanska in the least, as they screwed up by the numbers in how they handled Sally, your statement contains so many inaccurate facts I could not let it go unchallenged.

[@BritishBeachcomber]

@@JasperJanssen I guess you didn't watch the video.

[@dv875]

Check the difference in per capita income between sanibel island and pensecola

[@robertlevine2152]

I've lived all over the US and traveled extensively worldwide. The one place I have been most impressed with the infrastructure is Alaska. I lived in Anchorage for 5 years. One of the first things I saw after getting off the plane was a working model demonstrating the road wear caused by studed tires. Two tires running in a circle on a asphalt base. The model showed wear caused by studs on both the inside and outside of the tire, and the impact of speed (rpm) and distance on wear patterns. One tire was fitted with steel studs and the other aluminum, showing the damage to the roadway. When I first arrived I was fascinated with the snow removal process. Instead of plowing the roads from the center out, they plowed from the outside towards the center. They then ran a machine that lifted the snow and loaded it into dump trucks. The snow was taken to fields where it was dumped. Over the winter these areas became the "Anchorage glaciers." By August they were fully melted leaving sand and trash picked up with the snow. Road construction was nearly impossible during the winter months. So, work was limited to starting in late spring and finishing in early fall. Despite this, repairs were made using best practices. They would dig down feet and would compact the base soil. They would then lay down a moisture barrier, followed by rock, sand and asphalt. They followed textbook practices to make the best roads possible. They designed and built roads to last. Work started on time and finished on schedule. Bob Bob

[@grayrabbit2211]

Similar thoughts. It's not just road construction -- building construction in Alaska is also amazing. During a two week stay at a hotel they ripped off the front of the building, built an expansion on, and had it almost completely finished in that time.

[@wizerd2089]

Further up north in Alaska the general infrastructure is fascinating. Buildings up on pile ons and you relevel your house a few times a year to accommodate for the ground/permafrost shifting. The hospital there has electric pile ons that sense and self level. So awesome.

[@b.s.adventures9421]

I grew up in Alaska. When I left I didn’t understand why construction projects elsewhere were so slow. Living in extreme environments makes people resilient.

[@Pimpdaddy_payne]

My grandparents took me there for my Graduation gift and I was equally as fascinated with how they do work both on road and rail. I loved my time visiting

[@mnomadvfx]

To be fair Alaska has so little usable area due to the climate up north that it has a much greater allotment of infrastructure funding from Congress for it than other states with an abundance of infrastructure to maintain and/or replace.

[@PsRohrbaugh]

I live in Fort Myers less than 2 miles from the causeway, and had a foot of water in my house from Ian. I meant to email you and ask you to cover this, but I have been too busy. Same goes for following these things on the local news. So, THANK YOU for making this video! It's helpful to understanding what's going on in my community, and also has great engineering content. Two things I'd be interested in having you cover: 1) The barge & helicopter operations of getting resources onto Sanibel before the repairs were complete. I could see twin-rotor helicopters carrying shipping containers onto Sanibel from my house. 2) The repair operations on Fort Myers Beach (which you didn't touch on) and more details of the Pine Island repairs (which you showed some clips of and briefly mentioned). Thanks again!

[@grayrabbit2211]

Fort Myers Beach here.. I hope the insurance companies aren't giving you too much grief.

[@PsRohrbaugh]

@@grayrabbit2211 No insurance. House has been fine for 40 years and $15k a year between homeowners and flood... No thanks. If someone bought my house they'd bulldoze it and build a McMansion (which has happened to most of my neighbors). Still trying to figure out my plans but I will land on my feet. Thanks for the well wishes!

[@PsRohrbaugh]

@@grayrabbit2211 how are you doing after the storm? The beach got hit badly...

[@TheDiosdebaca]

@@grayrabbit2211 Cape Coral here... The devastation is so insane, I do HVAC, and had to go into so many completely destroyed areas, it's tough. Stay strong!!!

[@P_RO_]

@@PsRohrbaugh There can be money to be saved with things like DIY demo (where needed), trash removal (has to be to their schedule), and sticking to minimum 'code' with upgrading done later. If you have neighbors in a similar situation, team up with 1 or 2 them sharing the work and dumpsters etc to make things run more efficiently. Also if you're up to it, DIY as much as possible. I'm not there, but where I live you can renew building permits and increase the amount of time to complete the project, thus keeping monthly costs lower while still getting the work done. Ask your contractor what you can do to save $$$, they will know the answers. Not keeping flood insurance might be a good idea in cases like yours, but when you choose a path like that you need to put some $$$ away regularly so that when you need it, enough funds will be there immediately to "get the ball rolling" while you figure out the rest. Best of luck and Happy Holidays to you.

[@jodyhuneycutt]

Grady, thanks for the videos. Being a retired civil engineer, I really appreciate the explanations you give for complicated processes. I know they will contribute to youngsters deciding to be engineers. I, myself, decided I wanted to be a civil engineer after s Sunday afternoon drive when I was 8. Buford Dam (Lake Sidney Lanier), on the Chattahoochee River northeast of Atlanta was under construction that year and we went to the dam site. I thought it was just the coolest thing I had ever seen and I made the decision right then that that was what I wanted to do when I grew up. And I did.

[@logikgr]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/gIiYhniNZ9CMrMU

[@jodyhuneycutt]

@@logikgr That's the river, all right. Though Alan grew up about 100 river miles south of where the dam I mentioned is located. If he was skiing on a lake, which it looks like from the relatively clear water, it was probably Lake West Point, which is quite a bit closer to Newnan than Lake Lanier is. West Point was built in the late 60's, when I was in engineering school at GA Tech. My girlfriend was from West Point, so I got to see the construction first hand, though on an intermittent basis. Just before they finished the dam, we were at her parents house one weekend and I saw in the local newspaper that the Corps of Engineers was having an open house at the dam that Sunday. We went to that and got to go into the power house and into the control room for one of the generators. It was a room about 15' in diameter with instrumentation all around the periphery and a 3' diameter stainless shaft running vertically through the center of that room. The shaft was the connection between the turbines a floor below us and the generators above us. I'll never forget that afternoon. They had not installed all the generators yet and for the remaining ones, the pit where the turbines go was open to the generator room floor, 2 floors above. None of the installed generators was operational yet and they had the entire flow of the Chattahoochee River running through that empty generator/turbine bay. That water was really moving. Later in the afternoon, to reduce the flow through the generator/turbine bay, they told everyone still there to go through a door out of the power house out onto a platform overlooking the river immediately downstream of the dam. Then they opened the nearest Tainter gate to us. That was so cool to see all that water start running out from the bottom of the gate, as it raised up; then, as the gate got to about 1/3 open, the water was shooting out in a flat stream from under a gate and going about 100' horizontally before it fell into the river. Cool, cool, cool.

[@ovidiugarbacea9498]

Are you allowed to talk about how the pyramids were built? And if you were..as an engineer today...could you do it?

[@SleepyKittens]

@@ovidiugarbacea9498 Some schools are not allowed to speak about the pyramid building?

[@SleepyKittens]

I think if the math educators had different "creative" program courseworks for different ages, like field trips for youth and older students, instead of simply teaching numbers and logic, there would be more appreciation on engineering and math. It's like learning a language but never tasting the food or music. It won't have the impact sampling food/music would.

[@matt45540]

I worked at a resort on the coast of Georgia that was an island. A part of our hurricane planning was a standby contract with a temporary bridge company that would sell a fold out bridge within 3 days of the loss of our previous one. It's crazy to think there's just a few spare Bridges sitting around the country waiting

[@billlexington5788]

Not too crazy, military has plenty of pontoon equipment for long bridges, and has much shorter fast deploying bridges for tanks crossing canals and such. Not too crazy to think many would be available on a surplus/public works market.

[@billlexington5788]

I know a few years ago when a hurricane hit Jacksonville nc, many of the bridges on the nearby base were deployed to flooded areas.

[@TimPerfetto]

@@billlexington5788 Not too crazy, military has plenty of bridges for tanks crossing pontoon equipment and has much shorter public works market. Not too crazy -- not too crazy

[@matthewheinze1231]

There use to be a bunch of Bailey Bridges at National Guard Armories and few State DOTs.

[@dionh70]

Silly idea for a KZbin channel??? Hardly! People documenting their dog's everyday lives is a silly idea. This channel gives laypersons a professional's understanding and appreciation of absolutely critical aspects of modern-day civilization without having to obtain a master's degree. You, sir, provide enormous value to your viewers and we thank YOU for that.

[@WanderTheNomad]

Guarenteed for every idea, there will be at least one person out there who thinks it's silly

[@dionh70]

@@WanderTheNomad Fair enough.

[@DavidSallge]

This is impressive. In our area here in Germany we had a highway-bridge that was destroyed by fire (most likely deliberately) in early 2012 (see A57 bridge at Dormagen). It took them 6 weeks just to demolish the old bridge and put up a temporary steel bridge. It took another 6 years to rebuild the structure... This much bigger project in a third of the time is really impressive. Although they had help with the demoiltion by the hurricane, they still needed to get rid of the debris left behind. Also: thank you very much for your great videos! I'm hoping for many more to come in the next year!

[@MonkeyJedi99]

For most major civil projects, a long part of the time is, or can be, legally mandated planning and bidding steps. In the town I used to live in, a redesign of two intersections and the 1/4 mile or so between them in the center of town included over a year to secure provisional funding from the state and federal highway funds, proposals from three different design firms, environmental impact studies because of possible stormwater flow changes, arranging for sub-surface work to be designed and scheduled to occur during the construction (to avoid the phenomenon of a brand new road being torn up for a water/sewer line replacement), a public comment period to allow community concerns about changes to be heard, land-takings had to be financed and arranged to allow for the expansion of a truck turning lane (the major impetus for the project, as the downtown has buildings right up on the road), community input for the use of land being returned to green space, securing bids from contractors to do the work once the design was finalized... Oh, and then get the funding locked in for the final cost. THEN the project could be locked into the schedule to work around projected traffic flow and seasonal weather.

[@ericjx]

I worked recovery down there. It was amazing how fast they were able to move soil into the affected area. Credit to FDOT and their contractors for rapidly deploying and meeting the demand to access the islands. It was nearly impossible to travel to the island elsewise (ferries were there, but hard to get access to.) Edit - and credit to those who constructed them bridges. Structurally handled the storm great.

[@rustyshackleford1114]

It helps to have someone like Ron DeSantis, who is an actual doer and hires efficient people. As a former military man, he specialized in logistics.

[@ericjx]

@@rustyshackleford1114 Almost met him. I was working in a mobile command vehicle and didn’t realize he was standing outside my door, got a call saying he was outside the door but before I had the chance he walked away lol

[@Truckngirl]

You are so right about this! After the 1994 Northridge Earthquake in LA, a portion of I-10 had collapsed over La Cienega Blvd, creating a traffic nightmare. In only 66 days, 75 days ahead of schedule, both the street and freeway were reopened, earning them $14.8 million bonus. However, after a few short months, the roadbed of the freeway began to warp...to a point that in two lanes you would catch air at highway speeds. It had to be repaired over a much longer period of time that it took to open.

[@GilmerJohn]

Well, the government should have sued to get some of the $14.8 million$ back. The key is that the road was re-established. The "fine points" can be picked up later.

[@jakeroper1096]

From here on out they paid the “bonus” out in yearly installments over the next decade. Independent inspectors should get the bonus if they find defects that end up needing to be corrected.

[@GilmerJohn]

@@jakeroper1096 -- Well, that's a bit long for a bonus payment. It's reasonable to have some compromises on the restoration of as established route than on new construction. Get the job done and it the fullness of time bring the "weak sports" (to include those that developed in the original construction) up to standard as part of what should be routine maintenance. Slight OT: I live in the east but I remember the Oakland Bay Bridge that "dropped" a section during a major earthquake. This was a miles long structure and they only lost 50'. But they decided to replace the entire bridge. Was that a good expenditure of toll or public money? Get the job done and put the money where it does the most good.

[@P_RO_]

You have to balance the biggest real need with both best practices and with what funds are available to work with. Sometimes "quick and nasty" works better in the long run, but it should never be the normal process.

[@nomore6167]

@@GilmerJohn "Well, that's a bit long for a bonus payment" - Well, it *IS* a BONUS payment, meaning "above and beyond the agreed-upon price". "It's reasonable to have some compromises on the restoration of as established route than on new construction" - No, it absolutely is not reasonable. If a contractor doesn't think he can do the job to specifications, then he shouldn't submit a bid, full stop. Similarly, if a contractor fails to hire competent engineer or fails to take into account certain things when designing and performing the repair, then that failure is his negligence and he should not be rewarded for it. "Get the job done and it the fullness of time bring the "weak sports" (to include those that developed in the original construction) up to standard as part of what should be routine maintenance." - Again, no. Maintenance is the inspection, up-keep, and repair of EXPECTED issues ("wear and tear"). If you purchased an automobile and the engine failed after a year, would you say "oh shucks, well, I knew I'd have to maintain the vehicle" or would you go back to the manufacturer and demand a no-cost repair of the faulty materials and/or workmanship?

[@MrSaemichlaus]

Grady, you wouldn't believe how your videos open our eyes to the moving parts of what normally appears to be a paper backdrop to our lives. Too many public services / infrastructure operate in private and behind shutters, for fear of vandalism or undue criticism. But understanding inspires appreciation, and that's the value of your channel. Thanks for your effort, and this channel will keep going as long as you keep reporting on what YOU feel passionate about!

[@TheEDFLegacy]

I totally understand what you were saying about the approach ramps; a number of people in my city were complaining on Twitter about how one of our brand new overpasses that crosses a high-use railway line (replacing an at-grade crossing) was being left there for an entire year with no work. I knew it was because they were waiting for the rocks making up those approach ramps to settle into the swampland below. Eventually, the project was finished the very next year, and - as far as I know - on time and on budget.

[@Life_of_Matthew]

Thanks for everything you do Grady. As a civil engineering student, I sometimes find myself getting discouraged because my classes are hard and my peers are smarter than me, but your videos remind me why I chose to study civil engineering. The built world exists because of us

[@arocker23]

I’m an civil engineer in bridge and road construction and I couldn’t have told this story as well as you did. It’s an excellent video.

[@stefanschneider3681]

Living in Switzerland far away from any sea it‘s kind of scary to see that huge damage everywhere. Great video, as always!

[@quikxfl]

And they keep rebuilding using similar materials!

[@nraynaud]

I'm French, and I always tell my American friends how more tame the weather is here. Sometimes I convert wind speeds in metric, I'm always amazed, our wind is just slower here.

[@PleegWat]

@@nraynaud Europe doesn't get winds as bad as some other places. Regardless, 4m doesn't seem that bad, I'm sure here in NL we're diked for worse. For this causeway, I'd tend towards adjusting it so the island portions can flood safely and still be there when the sea retreats. Coating it in asphalt would be a start.

[@nilsandersson4983]

Yeah, sometimes Switzerland makes you feel very safe , however we do get some pretty impressive natural dangers too, to cite a few, lake tsunamis (See lake Lauertz, lake Geneva) earthquakes (Basel), flooding (Locarno etc) major rockfall and detritic flows, GLOF's, and so many other fun nature phenomena.

[@Bremend]

Tornadoes are worse, but much more localized

[@johncassels3475]

Excellent illustration of what was drilled into me about project management. You can ALWAYS get ONE of High Quality, Low Cost or Speed. In this case they got Speed but at high cost and low quality. With good planning, you can get any TWO of these, but you will never get ALL THREE at the same time. Great video as always. Thanks.

[@grayrabbit2211]

...and for what you need immediately after a hurricane, quick is exactly what's needed. They can (and will) go back later and do it right. It's also amazing how much faster things get done when government red tape is eliminated. Seeing the steady stream of dump trucks running 24/7 was absolutely amazing .

[@carlospulpo4205]

A friend of mine that works for the city told me to re-finish a bridge would cost 5x more to do each lane separately as opposed to completely closing it down.. They allowed for one-way traffic to share the single open lane while construction crews worked the opposite side. Closing the bridge would have had consequences for emergency response vehicle access, so this was out of the question. The city paid five times the price and took substantially longer in the interest of public safety.

[@TheObsesedAnimeFreaks]

"interest of public safety" read kickbacks for friends. there is likely a detour so that excuse is BS.

[@MRWATSiT2YA37]

@@TheObsesedAnimeFreakslol you dolt

[@TheObsesedAnimeFreaks]

@@MRWATSiT2YA37 you got some to add? Got any proof I am wrong? Because I can promise you I am not.

[@davidsimmons9763]

You are wrong. The ONLY way on or off of Sanibel is the causeway. You could take a boat or swim. I live and work here. There is no detour.

[@davidsimmons9763]

Oh...and the proof is to fully watch this video. At the very get-go, he explains that the causeway is the ONLY way.

[@OrigionalCigarette]

Despite all the constant storms, i still love Florida. Born and raised, i'm here to stay. Plus, were the "Testing grounds" for hurricane tech.

[@kerradeph]

It would be interesting to see an after action report like this on the Coquihalla highway after large sections of it were washed out last year.

[@marvindebot3264]

There is video on YT of the rebuild if you look, one of the locals did a lot of filming of the work post-flood.

[@kerradeph]

@@marvindebot3264 The Ste-Bros series? That shows a little section being rebuilt.

[@owendavies8113]

Yes a video(s) on the Coquihalla highway would be great! Driven it a few times and lots of engineering when into it. Plus the TV series Highway Thru Hell, brought light to its engineering hurdles!....Worth covering!!

[@SH-lm9cz]

Thank you Grady for being such an infrastructure nerd and for sharing it with us! Loving the book!

[@R1gg3d]

I have family that live on Captiva Island, so THANK YOU SO MUCH for making this video. It was very helpful to understand what went into the Causeway repairs in such a short time frame. Keep up the amazing work Grady!

[@BobDLucas]

I live 10 minutes from the Sanibel Causeway. Most of us weren't even aware of how bad it was for a couple days. Cell service was completely out, no power, no gas... just shock. I've enjoyed many of your videos in the past. So I was pleasantly surprised to see you do a video about my neck of the woods. Nice video. Thanks for not glamorizing what we went through down here for the sake of more clicks. Better than that, I wasn't actually aware that the fix was temporary. I think a lot of us down here are blind to that reality. Thank you. You know what's really sad, is that the foliage on Sanibel was finally starting come back after hurricane Charley back in 2005. Over 15 years of irreplaceable tropical growth, gone in a day. There's no engineering for something like that... Thanks again. Keep up the great work that you do!

[@Zenkai76]

I visit Sanibel island for the first time last year and fell absolutely in love with it. It is a very quiet community, bike paths all over the place and private accesses to the beach. I am hoping to go back once everything settles back down and pray it's like how it was before.

[@carbonstar9091]

I have been going there pretty much my entire life. You should have seen it before hurricane Charley. It was never quite the same after that.

[@DanielRichards644]

@@carbonstar9091 Sanibel was how we started Summer every year growing up, sometimes the cousins would come and we would have mini-reunions, one of my sisters has the timeshare now, it lost it's roof in the storm. been several years since I made it down there myself, but once things are back up and going i'm gonna see about going with them when their week comes up next year (likely won't be repaired before their week this year).

[@ReDMooNTVV]

Grady i want to thank you for all of this amazing work. As a civil eng student, i have found myself time and time again seeing the same topics covered in class on your channel. Every time i learn even more and find it more interesting!! I swear it's like you are in my program and making videos after each topics we cover. Love it

[@jamesdowell5268]

I have cherished childhood memories of driving across the causeway for spring break with my grandparents, and was so sad that Sanibel and Fort Myers received some of the worst damage. Thanks for the great video!

[@marley7145]

Grady, when I saw that you'd done a video about my home, I did something I've never done before. I shared this video before I watched it. That speaks volumes about the trust that I have that your videos are accurate (as far as is possible), well researched, skillfully created, and clearly explained. Thank you.

[@aredditor4272]

Sanibel and Pine mostly had homes built to resist the winds and flooding from hurricanes, so there wasn't as much total losses of homes as there was at Cape Coral and Fort Meyers. For one thing, Pine Island and Sanibel homes are raised on pillars, less of that on the mainland cities of Cape Coral and Fort Meyers. A lot more wealth on Sanibel and Pine, too.

[@henryhawkins1194]

A lot more wealth on Sanibel/Captiva, Pine Island not so much. Pine Island is basically a fishing Community with sparsely wealthy homes. And not all homes on the Islands are newer and on stilts. Sanibel/Captiva has some older one story homes and Pine Island/Matlacha has several including mobile homes.

[@jessiejanson1528]

@@henryhawkins1194 beach front property always costs more. not sure about interior land there without direct access since it lacks the beach access while having more risks than normal.

[@videoartduo]

@@jessiejanson1528 that is the beautiful thing about pine island...no beaches beach access means leaving the island which is a perfect indicator that you aren't from around here😂

[@ValerieTutor]

That is a lie. Pine Island is devastated with houses and businesses totally gone and water totally covered Sanibel which hadn't happened since 1926. Every home and business on Sanibel has had some sort of damage with many of them completely wiped out. While south Fort myers and Cape Coral have had damage it is nothing like Sanibel and Pine Island. I live here and I know.

[@myreadingmapped]

So I assume based on what you are saying, DeSantis invested a whole lot of money to serve a minority of roughly 6,000 wealthy residents on Sanibel Island with a temporary poorly built solution just in time so that he could get re-elected only a few weeks later. Yet the nearby City of Cape Coral, FL only six miles away has a population of 194,000 and they are still suffering because most didn't have flood insurance.

[@boneheadd911]

My kids (8 and 6yrs) love to read your book! Kids are so curious and they have really enjoyed identifying and reading about things they see on the way to school or around town. To be honest, I love it as much (or more) than they do! Great job.

[@markterribile6948]

I trained as an Electrical Engineering but went into software. I retain strong interest in details of civil and mechanical engineering topics. (I owe much of this to my father and his father.) I am in awe of how clearly you explain subleties in the topics you cover, and amazed at the depth of detail you present in your book. I recommend it enthusiastically as a gift for any middle or high school student interested in how we make the things around us, or in a career in engineering.

[@tedfisk1211]

I am glad you put up this video. When the news came out about the Sanibel Island being isolated, I wondered how it was going to be repaired. Thanks

[@Stelvei]

My family had a restaurant on Sanibel and we lived in Fort Myers, riding out Ian. I would drive on that causeway every day for the two years we lived there. It's so heartbreaking seeing the devastation. 🥺 We were for sure thinking the bridge rebuild would have taken years. Absolutely astonished to see how quickly they did these temporary repairs. I hope one day to return for vacation when things get rebuilt and somewhat back to normal. (I say somewhat because it'll never be the same.) This was an interesting video, thank you so much for covering it.💖💖

[@g.e.fourie5672]

It's always amazing what can be accomplished. Keep up the great content. Would like to see something about tailings dams and their failure modes.

[@christophercastor6666]

Thank you. I used the causeway as a lesson for my high school stem engineering students back when the storm hit. Now, I can’t wait to discuss your video with them! Thank you G!

[@seancoate5695]

This was very cool to see. As a resident in Lee county/Ft. Myers FL, we heard almost nothing about these projects until completed. I recently made my first visit to Ft. Myers Beach, the next island south of Sanibel, the clean up is progressing, but the devastation is beyond words. Thank you for sharing things information. I look forward to a video of the permanent rebuild of the causeway.

[@AndrewPenner]

Another excellent video (as expected)! Thank you so much for the time and effort you put into each video. Enjoy the “down time” with your family, Grady! Happy holidays!

[@FiltyIncognito]

Thank YOU for your passion and dedication making such great educational and entertaining videos! You help make KZbin a much better place!

[@bylandab]

One of my favorite KZbin channels covering my hometown! Ian was devastating but it was amazing seeing our community come together

[@comfyeon2]

As a student who has dropped out of electrical engineering due to a lack of motivation and the insane workload and moved into urban planning/GIS, I thoroughly enjoy the way your videos explain engineering in such an intuitive way. It makes me feel like I can still learn about these things and build a knowledge base despite the actual courses being too much for me, and keeps some passion for engineering alive. Especially in videos like this, where I know that the civil engineering will help me a lot in urban planning down the road (pun intended). Thank you so much for what you do and I can't wait to see what will come in 2023!

[@ponyote]

Thanks for a great year of content, Grady. It has been lovely learning from this channel.

[@elijahlong7791]

This bridge was one of the most amazing constructions I’ve ever seen, it’s crazy to think I went to the beautiful island of Sanibel in June and this terrible thing happened , hope there will be a quick recovery.

[@ValerieTutor]

It will take us about a year and a half to two years

[@charlesnicholson5715]

You do a great job of explaining what's going on with so many engineering problems and projects. Thank you, Grady!

[@royjones587]

I’ve been driving across that causeway almost daily for work for the past 11 years. It was wonderful to see how a project can come together so quickly after such a devastating event. The current repairs are just emergency repairs and FDOT/Sanibel/Lee County are working to finalize plans for permanent repairs. Great video and explanation Grady! 👍

[@Beryllahawk]

And thank YOU, for making this nifty channel about infrastructure! I've learned a lot and really enjoyed it too, and I never thought I'd say THAT about engineering! I've always been so intimidated by all the maths and physics, but you make this information amazingly accessible even for the "math challenged" ! Hope next year is just as awesome or even better!! Happy holidays!

[@yuGtahT]

I was fortunate enough to be able to spend a week in Sanibel this past August. I'm really hoping for the island to make a swift recovery. It's honestly one of the prettiest places I've ever been to.

[@siennad587]

Isn’t it the best! We would see wild Dolphins on the pier near the lighthouse.

[@yuGtahT]

@@siennad587 I held a starfish (:

[@inspectr1949]

Agree, our #1 destination when ever we make it back to Florida after having been marred there nearly 24 years ago.

[@2dogslarry393]

The pictures on this video don't even come close to the destruction that Sanibel has. I'm in Punta Gorda.

[@yuGtahT]

@@2dogslarry393 I'm from PG originally. Was just back down there for Christmas and honestly, not as bad as Charley. Thankfully. But yeah, Sanibel is almost unrecognizable.

[@tylertyable]

Thank you for making a detailed video about this. I visited this beautiful place just a few months before Hurricane Ian, it was sad to see the extreme damage from the overhead videos taken.

[@danamunkelt3276]

Grady, I just finished your book, and now I know what those loops in telecom lines do. Good work. A reconstruction project I'd like to see more about is LA after the Northridge quake. All big companies, equipment, crews, engineers and inspectors in the West were there round the clock for months. When the job absolutely has to get done. I wish I'd been on that project.

[@GonzoPandora69420]

My parents were living on Sanibel during Ian. My old man and I went to recover thier and we landed by boat the day the causeway opened. We had no idea it was completed so quickly, it was insane. I have to say, the destruction on Sanibel was unlike anything I've ever experienced. People are still rebuilding and sorting through the rubble. It'll be years until the island can bounce back, causeway or not.

[@d00mf00d]

Main street in my hometown has been being replaced for almost 9 months now and they're only halfway done. Seeing a contractor finish a project in 15 days (no traffic helps that) is mind boggling.

[@crazy808ish]

No traffic helps, but does it justify being more than 10x slower? That's what I don't get.

[@DanielRichards644]

@@crazy808ish No Traffic, work crew 20 times the size and round the clock shifts versus the single shift minimal crew size that most projects get.

[@SpyrosAdventures]

Having lived in this area my whole life this was one of the coolest videos I've seen. My buddy was actually the one who tested the land below the causeway to see what repairs the causeway needed both on the bridge and under it where the compact land sits

[@joshuabrunetti2001]

Massive thanks to Grady and the folks at PE for an outstanding year of excellent videos! Can't wait to see what is in store for 2023!

[@timothymcl8619]

So happy to see a video about my home state. We were extremely proud. They were able to accomplish such an amazing feat and get access to this island, though it will be a long process to get back to normal.

[@keven3647]

Grady. Absolutely love your channel. Proud to see a fellow San Antonian putting out quality interesting content. My late father was a civil engineer. Every time I watch one of your episodes, I think of him fondly and his love of engineering. PS, I received my copy of your signed book. Trying to share your passion with my teenage daughter. No luck so far 😂.

[@bobbeckman3735]

Thanks Grady. I used to live on Captiva island and drove across that causeway all the time. It is a toll causeway so I am guessing that is where some of the money is going to come from. Thanks for the videos, especially the ones about the Grid. I work for BPA so they are great training aids. I have your book and it is great. Season’s greetings Bob

[@LaczPro]

Thank you for all of these videos about civil engineering. Even for me that I don't know a thing about it, is so interesting to see how the things around me work in an easier-to-understand way. This channel achieves that. Great work Grady!

[@crissd8283]

You say that the projects near me are built to higher quality but they finish the road, then a week later, pull it back up to put some underground piping, finish it. Then a week later they decide to add another lane. It doesn't seem to matter, they could build it cheap because it will just be torn up again.

[@boredgrass]

Your channel is and means a lot of things; silliness is definitely not among them! No matter wether you ascribe to an emphasis on ecology and social equality, or if you think a strong economy and empowering the individual citizens is the way to go, or, you assign to a "mixed approach". You need to understand how technology works. This channel is public education at it's best! Keep up the good work!💐

[@mattguey-lee4845]

Thanks for the video. From the pictures it definitely looked like a quick patch job with out all the extras.

[@kawh8719]

Practical Engineering is the spiritual successor to Modern Marvels. Well done, Grady and family!

[@Dog.soldier1950]

This is not really about engineering but about bureaucracy. Most projects have to be put out to bid then you have EIS1 and EIS2 and of course the contractor isnt given any incentives to finish early (=money). This same thing happen in the aftermath of the Northridge California earthquake. Overpasses and other key rights of way were repaired in days or weeks instead of months or years.

[@jaysmith1408]

Is getting done early not incentive enough? The sooner you’re done, for a fixed amount, the sooner you can move onto something else, and by extrapolation, the shorter time you make a fixed amount, the more you effectively made.

[@grayrabbit2211]

@@jaysmith1408 Nope. If you get done early, what do you do with all of the equipment and men? The latter is particularly difficult to manage. If a project's done, they're not getting paid. Go work a union job and you'll see how this plays out. I was yelled at multiple times at a union job for getting done too quickly.

[@dfn28]

I'm curious about the surviving bridges that connect the causeway and what goes into inspecting them and certifying them as safe in the aftermath of the storm. For such large bridges it must not be easy.

[@paulmorrow8372]

Bridges A, B, and C were all opened in 2007. Being so recent, I would imagine they are built to very high hurricane standards. As the storm did not exceed the bridges’ design standards, I would not think extensive inspections would be necessary.

[@seraphina985]

@@paulmorrow8372 I would imagine there would be some in this case as parts of the approaches to the bridges tore free of the bridges themselves. Therefore there would be a risk that the structure was subjected to some unexpectedly large stresses during the two pieces parting company or that parts of the structure may have been struck by large debris fragments as they fell to the bottom of the channel. Large chunks of rocky or even bulk aggregates sliding together can get up to a decent speed even if the slope they are moving down is under water so you still have the risk of effectively underwater debris and land slides there which could have hit the bridge. That said newer bridges tend to have a bunch of sensors that can alarm if unexpected movement occurs or unexpected changes in internal conditions within the structure eg increased moisture due to a failed seal allowing water ingress somewhere etc.

[@EntombmentV1]

Thank you Grady! Been watching for years and you continue to help cement my love for Civil Engineering with every video.

[@donovancampbell7252]

amazing year for you! it has to feel so awesome to have such a diverse catalog of excellent quality youtube videos under your belt now. here's to many more in the future!

[@300-blkout]

Hello! Southwest Floridian here! Yeah it was pretty crazy over by Sanibel and Pine Island. No power for a while, army and armed guards for a while but it's pretty crazy how quick we got back up to speed! Thanks PE for making a video about us down here. :)

[@stephenj5980]

Here’s how it went down. A resident of the island happens to own a bridge construction company. The reason it went up so fast was because he started the work without authorization and was later contacted.

[@Outlawstar0198]

Link?

[@paulholmes672]

Grady, Love the book. Thank you for your educating, as a retired Controls Engineer, all is pretty familiar but the details are greatly enjoyed. One item I wish was covered is Gantry Cranes and how they operate, i.e. Dynamically balance loads along the truss. There are bunches of videos on how they are stacked but seeing how the load is balanced seems to be a trade secret. Thanks Again!!!!

[@robertfalconer5948]

I stumbled on your channel a while ago, and your tone, cadence, and presentation are just awesome! Keep it up! Went to look for your book on your site and already sold out, that's awesome!

[@crabmansteve6844]

The real reason this got done so fast is that this is an incredibly wealthy area that got hit particularly hard.

[@WvlfDarkfire]

Innovation costs money. So, yep. Your right.

[@tiger28312]

The pot hole outside my place hasn't gotten repaired 15 years later

[@CraftMine1000]

Sniper: yeah that seems about right

[@Skarry]

It's also a tourism island, the winter is pretty busy due to the snow birds on the mainland.

[@505premoto]

So you are saying that the people who actually pay most of the taxes actually got something back one time?

[@AM-el4iv]

How is one thing. Why is another. The why part is that the market value of the island's real estate was $6.3 billion at the time.

[@paradox11111111]

Got a signed copy of your book on my wish list for Christmas, I'm excited!! Great video as always. Very impressive work by the teams involved in the repairs.

[@rexmyers991]

Thank you for such a clear explanation of a complex project. My engineer friends can be so myopic when it comes to solving problems outside their area of expertise.

[@brian63miata]

I live just minutes from the causeway. The single reason that the repair was done so quickly was that Governor DeSantis was up for re-election and responded with every resource he could in order to claim victory and put himself on the national stage for his upcoming presidential bid. Many priceless photo ops for him. If it hadn’t been an election year we would have had to wait months for the project to be done.

[@joeserdynski1045]

living in Florida, we have a hard time understanding why the barrier islands are even inhabited . . . maybe a video on civil engineering role to prevent development of a vital natural protections, they are not called 'barrier islands" for nothing ! ! !

[@PeterLawton]

You personally do not want barrier islands inhabited, but obviously, inhabitants do. Your preference is not the only way life could be -- others have a say as well.

[@PeterLawton]

@Charles Brainard I never said that. Limits are determined by politicians, who in turn are determined by taxpayers. The status quo is what the taxpayers/voters have chosen, until they don't.

[@PeterLawton]

@Charles Brainard a more important point I am making is that Joe's position is to put significant limitations on inhabitants (i.e. mandate they live elsewhere) but inhabitants have a right to live where they do, and they do not have a mission to restrict Joe.

[@PeterLawton]

@Charles Brainard I've seen an example of exactly that. In northern VA, a new high power line was run from the west end of the state through the Leesburg area toward New York. Vocal residents in a wealthy neighborhood considered it unsightly (true enough), and mysteriously, coincidentally the power company decided to put those lines underground in the vicinity of that neighborhood as a "test "or pilot project or some such excuse.

[@grayrabbit2211]

I've lived on Fort Myers Beach for 30+ years. My place is still intact. Needs some repair (water got into the electrical systems), but it's still there. Other structures were there for 100+ years and saw countless storms & hurricanes without issue. Just because one storm comes through we shouldn't be there? I hope you don't drive a car as the statistics/odds of something bad happening in that are far worse. Only 14 people died on Fort Myers Beach out of ~800 or so who stayed. If we had better weather information (ie: if people knew there was a Cat 5 storm surge coming), I bet fewer than 10 people would have stayed.

[@murraystewartj]

Thank you, Grady, for such a great channel. No nonsense, understandable content that makes complex processes well, understandable. Every time I watch one of your videos I learn something. A year or so ago we had a major rain event in British Columbia that, among other things, destroyed several bridges and washed out portions of road on our Coquihala highway, and those repairs took months of around the clock work. The funny thing is we are mostly blind to the infrastructure we depend on until it's suddenly not there and then we panic. We take for granted roads, bridges, water and sewer lines, power grids and so on in our modern communities, but when one or more fail due to some disaster we may as well be living in the stone age. Thanks again, and all the best in 2023.

[@TomOConnor-BlobOpera]

Fascinating. Sanibel and Fort Myers were a common holiday destination for me and my family when I was small.

[@warw]

They can get a bridge in 15 days but we can't get paint and poles for a bike lane for years lmfao

[@brett4264]

I'm sure the wealth of the island residents had something to do with how fast the causeway was rebuilt.

[@grayrabbit2211]

Nope, wasn't a factor. Pine Island's bridge was rebuilt first and it's a much poorer area. Fort Myers Beach's south bridge was repaired last since it already had a working bridge on the north side.

[@jgbcodemonkey]

Your videos are always a delight, Grady. This is one of the best channels on KZbin!

[@loudgreenideas6799]

Thank you, Grady, for creating such quality work! It's been a pleasure watching every one of your videos. See you in the new year!

[@aarontuplin]

Not to be a Negative Nelly, but also the residents of Sanibel Island are really wealthy and have a lot of political connections.

[@dominicdavino252]

Omg can't believe these clueless comments. You have no clue who lives and works on Sanibel. Get a life.

[@craigmhamm]

I would expect a bridge built in two weeks to last exactly as long as it takes to build a real bridge.

[@nossarian]

Every time you post I know it will be a well thought out, detailed explanation of infrastructure with transparency about risks, costs, pros, and cons. I grew up watching "There goes a Bulldozer" on repeat and this feels like the adult version for me :)

[@opathe2nd973]

Great job. Everything we had on Fort Myers Beach is gone and will never come back. Thanks for the memory, I think!

[@radium4194]

Welcome to Florida, we can actually handle a storm

[@lwrii1912]

I live in SW Florida and I have to give credit where credit is due. I attribute the timely, yet albeit temporary repairs to the Sanibel causeway a tribute to good governing from a government that keeps it's priorities on the actual needs of the people, not a bunch of made up nonsense. I am proud of the current leadership of Florida and I think the rest of the nation should take a hard look at what is done here and adopt many of the present policies that keep Florida a free and open society.

[@MichaelD-fn5lv]

💯

[@daveyoder9231]

It is also a good illustration of how money and political pressure produces results.

[@FinneasJedidiah]

What would you consider "a bunch of made up nonsense"?

[@iHATEbigots666]

The idea that Florida, compared to other states, is some sort of "open and free" society is a ripe piece of comedy. Thanks for opening your mouth so I could laugh this morning 😂

[@cgunugc]

@PPGP News Oh god no, people living how they want to and not hurting other people! Whatever will we do!

[@AutumnSunshine11]

I love your note on rebuilding at 10:46. People can be SO hurtful when it comes to plans for rebuilding, especially poorer communities

[@hunterthomas2838]

I was born and raised in Cape Coral. Stayed during Ian. I do drywall so I’m rebuilding all the houses the got destroyed. I grew up on pine island it’s so sad everything was destroyed. Merry Christmas. Have a blessed one.

[@g3a2v2i1n2]

"How did they get it done in 15 days?" OSHA violations probably.

[@dorvinion]

10:50 If you want to remove the development from the islands you simply need to stop giving handouts to people after such storms. Without the handouts that island might have some houses on it - cheap, easy to replace houses. It wouldn't have any $1m homes

[@fatcats7727]

Im from southern cape coral / fort meters area and its awesome to see a video about my area 😊 We decided to stay through the hurricane and it was an incredible and eye opening experience to see the sheer power hurricanes bring

[@SomeGuysGarage]

Thank you for the great year of videos! You do such a great job at conveying the difficult and sometimes controversial topic of infrastructure development and failures. Looking forward to another year :)

[@ducksmith1536]

Ayeee we first

[@DipanGhosh]

Congrats!?

[@EstebanDVO]

I can imagine you running up the stairs with your phone to show this to your girlfriend's boyfriend to show him you were first

[@cole4236]

One word - DeSantis !

[@rustyshackleford1114]

Yep. If this was California, there would be a study on "racial equity", the bridge would take years to be done, and then it would fall apart the first day.

[@floridaman318]

One word. Rich.

[@felixpeltier6164]

So cool! Thank you for this video! I was just in Sanibel earlier this year, and I was fishing right under the causeway there.

[@closetbound8707]

Thankx Grady for all the great info & content! Happy Holidays to you & yours

[@tacticalhandyman710]

Crazy how Florida got pounded by a hurricane and still could count their votes quickly and efficiently.

[@chrismac1749]

Thank you for mentioning Pine Island! It was mostly forgotten by the media and was hit just as hard as Sanibel, and as you mentioned in the video, also left isolated with no road access from the mainland.

[@DanielRichards644]

Don't forget Fort Myers Beach, it was essentially wiped off the face of the planet

[@03cnutty]

Love this channel. In my top 3 Forsure. I’ve watched some of the channels alike but they’re all missing something. Never stop making videos. As a construction surveyor I love to see things from your perspective, relate, and learn new things. Happy new year🎉

[@shteebo]

A+ content, Grady. You do a remarkable job of presenting complex topics in a manner comprehensible to average people. Love your animated diagrams. Your mix of topical real world infrastructure issues and garage model experiments is both effective and entertaining. I've learned so much from your channel. Wishing you continued success and prosperity.