The bridge.

woody_tobius_jr

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They had a crane lifting at each side, lifting on the abutments, then they set the bridge beams in with another crane. Once the beams are in place they lowered the abutments so they sandwich the beams. If the pilings settled a little bit during the thaw, then they are trying to drop lower, putting stress on the beams. We might get the actual scoop next week, we're going back in to haul the beams back to Supreme. I'm not sure how they are going to ship them back to Supreme, we won't be able to take them the way they are though, have to see if they cut them in half. Northern Crane Is sending in a big ass crane to lift all the beams off in one shot. We still have a good beam loaded on our dolly set up, we'll be sending it back in a few days.


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Moeman

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No No. You guys all have it wrong. After just standing there all week, they like to let the dinosaurs from the museum out to run around and get some fresh air. My guess is that they thought it was a new set of monkey bars...
 

CUSO

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I don't believe that they made any decision to take the girders off yet. That big crane is there right now to stabilize the beams so inspectors can get close enough to safely assess the damage and determine the best solution.

They had a crane lifting at each side, lifting on the abutments, then they set the bridge beams in with another crane. Once the beams are in place they lowered the abutments so they sandwich the beams. If the pilings settled a little bit during the thaw, then they are trying to drop lower, putting stress on the beams. We might get the actual scoop next week, we're going back in to haul the beams back to Supreme. I'm not sure how they are going to ship them back to Supreme, we won't be able to take them the way they are though, have to see if they cut them in half. Northern Crane Is sending in a big ass crane to lift all the beams off in one shot. We still have a good beam loaded on our dolly set up, we'll be sending it back in a few days.


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nast70

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My sister designs bridges for CN, the scuttlebutt in her circles is the installation crew got caught witht the storm coming up and someone made the call to speed up the installation of the girders. They went with fewer cross braces (there is a photo somewhere that shows cross bracing correctly on the south girders but the north has fewer). The weak crossbracing was not enough to suppprt the beams in the wind sunday night. As big as these girders are they are pretty flimsy without the correct loads on them.
 

Summitric

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That wind gust that came up that nite was a gooder... Blew my bbq clear across the deck... And saw several reader boards knocked over


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Caper11

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That's a wicked vid! Bridges are designed to move but not that much.
No "iron rings" for those engineers.


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CUSO

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Haha I like how in that vid the guy calmly walks off the twisting bridge.. LOL
 

ABMax24

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A similar thing happened about 15 years ago in Grande Prairie, as the eastbound 84th ave bridge was being constructed the concrete girders were temporarily braced together, and one of the girders either rolled over on its side, or was loaded incorrectly which caused it to buckle taking the rest of the girders with it. And because they were concrete and not steel they didn't deform they crumbled and wound up in a pile of rubble across the walking path and creek underneath. But apparently this is a lesson that still hasn't been learned.
 

52weekbreak

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I believe Nast70 is indeed correct in that the damage was wind and lack of bracing (my previous comment). The wind was not forecast and if it was, the lifts would have stopped and the focus would have been all on the bracing. Neither the Graham people or the City of Edmonton reps are idiots and would not have rolled the dice on this. The sudden ferocity of the wind was a surprize. Everything stopped including brace installation when the wind came as to be up there would be dangerous as hell.

Nope.. That is an uninformed guess..

Local, reputable fabrication, and a highly regarded contractor.

I am thinking nast70 is correct. You can't rush a turtle.
 
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