Photos of the process of two giant cranes lifting the spans into place the bone chilling night of Nov. 20. The crane in the foreground lifts the giant concrete spans off the flatbed trucks, delicately swings them around to a pad where the second crane is attached to the far end. Both cranes ever so gently lift the span into place like a delicate ballet dance. Each of the 12 spans took a little over an hour to place - Brett Fish. PLEASE CLICK THE IMAGE ABOVE FOR MORE.
For Normandy Park residents dealing with the detour caused by the rebuild of the Sylvester Bridge on Sylvester Road S.W., the end is in sight with King County Department of Transportation predicting a late February/early March completion.
Completed so far (from DeAnna Martin with KCDOT):
- Old bridge demolished (in July)
- New bridge drilled shaft substructure foundation completed
- 2 new bridge abutment and wing wall supports completed above drilled shafts
- 2 temporary shoring towers for new bridge girder erection completed
- All 12 segments of the new concrete bridge girders were launched on Nov. 19 and 20 via cranes. There are 4 new girder lines which will support the new bridge, each girder line includes 3 girder segments that eventually get “closed” together with concrete and rebar above the temporary shoring towers, then eventually tensioned to final position
Freelance photographer Brett Fish took photos of the girder launching on Nov. 20, presented as a slideshow above. Here is Fish’s report:
“Attached are photos of the process of two giant cranes lifting the spans into place the bone chilling night of Nov. 20. The crane in the foreground lifts the giant concrete spans off the flatbed trucks, delicately swings them around to a pad where the second crane is attached to the far end. Both cranes ever so gently lift the span into place like a delicate ballet dance. Each of the 12 spans took a little over an hour to place.”
As for what remains:
- Contractor preparing to place temporary form work to complete the concrete girder diaphragms, new concrete bridge deck, concrete girder closure pour and tensioning of girders.
- After final position and tension is achieved, temporary shoring towers will be removed.
The final product will be a 220-foot long single-span concrete girder bridge. It will be slightly wider than the old version with two traffic lanes and five-foot wide sidewalks.
According to KCDOT, the old bridge was 80 years old and in poor enough condition to pose a serious risk if an earthquake hits.
Anyone interested in signing up for email updates can do so online at: www.kingcounty.gov/sylvesterroadbridge
