Sena Kumarasena, Ph.D., PE

Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Signature Cable-Stayed Bridge, Boston, MA: Lead Bridge Engineer and Deputy Project Manager for the final design and Project Manager for the construction phase services for the landmark, award winning cable stayed bridge with a 745-ft. main span and 295-ft. and 425-ft. asymmetric back spans. The 195-ft wide roadway includes a 45-ft wide roadway section cantilevered to the outer side of eastern cable plane. Responsible for developing solutions to a number of technical and constructability challenges on this one-of-a-kind project. Also coordinated and led the technical efforts during and post construction on behalf of the design firm of record and the CA/T project (Completion 2003).

Storrow Drive Bridge, Boston, MA: Project Engineer and Technical Lead for the preliminary design of this unique, award-winning single cell box girder bridge with 380-ft main span and 225-ft back spans carrying a 76-ft wide roadway, (considered largest of its kind in North America). The composite single cell box girder superstructure varies in depth from 18 feet at the main piers, and 8 feet to the end piers. The bridge carries four lanes of Storrow Drive over the Charles River Responsible for the feasibility verification of fabrication and delivery, erection and cost competitiveness and the preliminary design. Served as a technical resource for the final design, which was selected for construction following a competitive bidding against a concrete segmental alternate. Deputy project manager and technical lead for construction phase services. (Completion: 2000)

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), Greenline Extension Project, Boston, MA: Senior Bridge Engineering Consultant. On behalf of the MBTA, Sena is performing Structural/Bridge Engineering review of the Design-Build team’s designs on this 4.8-mile extension of the Green-Line light rail service along two branches. The project also includes a maintenance facility, seven new stations, and modifications to existing infrastructure, utilities and other facilities along the corridor. Continued services on this $2.2 billion project in structural and bridge engineering areas during the Design-Build procurement phase, bid review, design development and construction. (2017-Ongoing)

City of Boston, Long Island Bridge Replacement, Boston, MA: Senior Bridge Engineer & Task Leader responsible for the feasibility study and the development of a cost-effective rehabilitation or replacement of the 16-span, 3,500-ft long truss Bridge. The construction is being performed using Accelerated Bridge Construction approach, developed during the feasibility stage, to limit the closure of the crossing to five weekends. Sena is serving as the Project Engineer on the consultant team selected by the City of Boston. Additional project complexities included difficult access under the over-land end spans, almost 10-ft tidal fluctuations and resulting insufficient water depth for barge operations under the near-shore deck truss spans, and the presence of several major utility lines carried on the bridge. (2013-Ongoing)

Mumbai Pune Expressway Capacity Augmentation Project, (Design-Build), Mumbai, India: Principal Engineer responsible for proof-checking services and lead engineer for twin-cable stayed bridges. The project involves adding six additional lanes of traffic by widening of existing sections of the highways and viaducts over a 6km length of existing alignment and the construction of new viaducts including two parallel cable-stayed bridges over a deep valley. The over project is 12km in length along a new alignment over an environmentally sensitive green-fled and a deep valley. At the onset of the project we provided Value-Engineering services for the cable-stayed bridges to the design-build contractor and are now continuing to provide Proof-Checking services on this complex project that include widening of existing viaducts, construction of new viaducts and the two new parallel cable-stayed bridges. Each of the two cable-stayed bridges are approximately 850-m (2,800-ft) in total length with a main span length of 305-m (1,000-ft). The deck cross section is approximately 25m wide and C/L of the two roadways are about 70-m apart from one another. Another key feature is the nearly 80-m height of the towers from the foundation level to the roadway level due to the topography of the valley (2018-Ongoing).

Hi Level Technical Review of San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge Post Construction Issues, San Francisco, CA: Member of the 6-person expert panel appointed by the California Senate Transportation and Housing Committee to provide a high-level review of the design and construction of the new East Span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. Review and the written report focused on the following (2016):

• Review the seismic design criteria for the bridge
• As-Constructed Quality as-built foundations in the main span
• Review of the repairs to broken bolts on the shear keys on the main span
• Port Authority of NY/NJ, Bayonne Bridge Improvements: Task Manager for upgrading the roadway of this 1,600‐ft span historic trussed arch bridge. The work included the design of a redundancy girder system and feasibility study identifying three approaches for both widening the existing roadway and increasing the navigated clearance. The methods identified included (A) Lifting the bridge by sliding on extended abutments (B) Staged construction of a new elevated roadway through the arch, and (C) New Bridge. The feasibility of raising the approaches for options A and B were also confirmed. Construction schedules and cost estimates for the three options were also developed. (2006)

Afcons Infrastructure Limited, Chenab Railway Arch Bridge Project (Design-Build), Katra, India: Bridge Engineering /Constructability Expert for the Design and Constructability review and specialized engineering consultancy services to a major contractor in India. This crossing over the Chenab River is 4,313-ft long and consists of a 2,575-ft-long arch bridge with a 1,575-ft steel composite arch span over the river, and another 1,738-ft long viaduct supported on concrete piers. The arch and the spandrel columns are to be constructed using a cable-way with a capacity of 38.5-ton with temporary stay supports during the intermediate construction stages. At a height of 1,385-ft above the river bed, it would be the tallest bridge in the world when completed. Services include: review of contractor’s arch erection methodology to make improvements, recommendations for improving the constructability of several aspects of the arch bridge design, assisting the contractor with developing dependable geometry control methodology of critical construction stages, advising contractor during bridge construction on an on-going basis, and improving construction staging to reduce overall construction duration. (2016-Ongoing)

Mumbai Metropolitan Authority (MMRDA), Mumbai Trans Harbor Link (MTHL), Mumbai, India: Bridge Engineering Specialist on the General Consultant Team to MMRDA. The project is a 13.5-mile long, dual carriageway viaduct with each carriageway each approximately 50 ft wide and carrying 3-lanes of vehicular traffic across the Mumbai Bay. The crossing connects Sewri on the Mumbai side with Chirle on the Navi (New) Mumbai side, considerably reducing travel time. The project consists 1,670 ft of land viaduct on Sewri side, 10 miles of viaduct over the bay, and about 3 miles of viaduct on land and earth embankment sections on land on Navi Mumbai side. This US$3 billion project will be divided into three design-build packages and is currently in the tender stage. (2016 – Ongoing)

United State Coast-Guard, CSX Mobile River Vertical Lift Bridge, Mobile, AL: Bridge Task Manager and Technical Lead: For replacement of existing swing bridge with a 325-ft span new vertical lift bridge providing 65-ft of navigational clearance for navigation. Construction staging and minimization to rail traffic was a prime consideration for the concept development of the replacement design. (2008-2011)

City of Boston, Chelsea Street Movable Bridge Replacement, Boston, MA: Project Manager & Lead Engineer for pre-construction preparation and construction phase services for this 450-ft span 225-ft tall vertical lift bridge replacing the existing structurally deficient, functionally obsolete bascule bridge currently accommodating only a 95-ft channel clearance. The original design was completed in 2002 by others. Construction-phase challenges included simultaneous in-house design review resulting in many needed design revisions that were proactively implemented to ensure project success and managing the resulting schedule and cost impacts by working collaboratively with the contractor and the bridge owner agencies. (2007-2009)

Specialized Expertise

Al Awir Pedestrian Bridge, Dubai: Independent design and safety review and resolution of issues leading to excessive concrete cracking and deflections on this 110-m long, two-span cast-in-place concrete box girder bridge with an S-Curve alignment (2018).

High-Level Technical Review of San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge Post Construction Issues, San Francisco, CA: Member of expert panel appointed by the California Senate Transportation Committee to provide a high-level review (2016):

Sakonnet River Bridge, RI: Bridge Engineering Technical Expert on team investigating reasons for the cracking of the concrete parapets on the new Sakonnet River Bridge (2014).

RA 166 Concrete Box-Girder Viaduct Flyover, Kuwait: Technical advisor on review of field conditions and implementing constructability improvements and re-design of the pre-cast concrete segments to alleviate construction difficulties (2013).

Chambal River Cable-Stayed Bridge Collapse During Construction, Kota, India: One side of this cable-stayed bridge collapsed during the cantilever construction. Provided review of design, construction methods, and material evidence (2012).        

M6 Grand Rapids South Beltway Bridges, George Town, MI: Investigation of construction and steel erection issues involving a total of three heavily skewed and curved simple span girder bridges (2008).

Arthur DiTomasso Memorial Cable-Stayed Bridge, As-Built Independent Evaluation and Safety Review, Fitchburg, MA: Independent review of as-built stresses and safety assessment on behalf of MassDOT and FHWA (2006).

Holland Tunnel Seismic Vulnerability Assessment, Port Authority of NY/NJ: Seismic safety evaluation of this historic tunnel using bi-level seismic evaluation consistent with the NYC seismic hazard design (2006).