Description of Services
This project involved the design and construction of the Storrow Drive Bridge, an 830-foot-long, award-winning signature structure spanning the Charles River in Boston, Massachusetts. The bridge features a 380-foot main span and two 225-foot back spans, carrying a 76-foot-wide roadway with four traffic lanes. Designed as a single-cell, steel-composite box girder—the largest of its kind in North America—the bridge was developed to complement, rather than compete with, the adjacent Zakim Bunker Hill cable-stayed bridge.
The design emphasized visual harmony within the surrounding urban and park landscape while achieving structural elegance and efficiency. The superstructure features a parabolic depth profile, varying from 18 feet at the main piers to 8 feet at the end piers, optimizing both aesthetics and structural performance.
Principal Engineer, Sena Kumarasena, Ph.D., P.E., led the development of the preliminary design, ensuring alignment with the architectural vision while verifying feasibility in terms of fabrication, transportation, erection, and cost competitiveness. He served as the Technical Director during the final design phase of the steel-composite alternative, which was ultimately selected for construction over a competing concrete segmental option through a competitive bid process. Sena also served as Project Manager and Technical Lead during construction-phase engineering, overseeing implementation of the design through to successful completion.
