| Middle Caicos Causeway “pretty well-designed” | | Print | |
| Written by Richard Green/richard@fptci.com | |||
| Thursday, 15 September 2011 08:27 | |||
 The Middle Caicos Causeway that suffered severe damage in 2008 was “pretty well-designed” except for culverts that were too small and damage to the membrane tube foundation by construction modifications, government CEO Martin Stanley told the Consultative Forum. Hurricanes Hanna and Ike blew out undersized culverts and washed away weakened sections of the mile-long causeway a year after it was opened, and Hurricane Irene inflicted further damage to the vital link between North and Middle Caicos. But its repair is among the top three capital budget priorities for government this year.  Stanley said the causeway was not designed to withstand more than a moderate hurricane because it would have been too expensive to build a raised concrete structure to withstand a major storm. However, the undersized culverts were too small to let flood waters flow through, causing much of the damage, he said. The foundation of the causeway was a membrane tube packed with hard material that would have fared much better if it had not been punctured and damaged with the late addition of walls and lighting. The government is working out costs to repair the damaged tube fabric, install much larger culverts and resurface the causeway, perhaps before next hurricane season, Stanley said. “Let’s keep our fingers crossed that the cost is not too high,” he said. The causeway might also feature a “sacrificial” area that is lower than the rest of the structure to allow extremely high flooding to wash over to reduce strain on the causeway, he said. Photos: (Top) Causeway after Hurricane Irene in 2011. (Bottom) Causeway before Hurricane Hanna and Ike in 2008 (Richard Green/Staff)
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