James Marshall
07-22-2013, 7:22 PM
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee304/modela/4f7d05ae-c778-459a-91fe-c7a86906fe44_zpsc0945c40.jpg (http://s235.photobucket.com/user/modela/media/4f7d05ae-c778-459a-91fe-c7a86906fe44_zpsc0945c40.jpg.html)
It was Saturday, July 22, 2013, 7:00 a.m. when I arrived. I drove about 1/2 mile in on a gravel road and then across a mowed grass field. At one side were huge chunks of the old bridge, glue lams about 1' x 5' cut into four foot lengths. They had been condemned a few years back as a result of dry rot over the years taking its toll. The Atkinson bridge was the replacement. I bump along the rough field and park along a row of 4x4 Ford and Chevy pickups, all white, newer company pickups of the two commercial companies donating there time on a Saturday to pull things together.
It is quiet now, quiet like it is when I walk the trails of Buford Park and Mt. Pisgah. Ahead of me I hear the little two cylinder Onan driven Lincoln Welder come alive as Butch, the welder anchors a couple of angle brackets on one side of the pond. He welds them to a large angle that has been previously prepared. He finishes, coils the leads and heads back to the entrance to the Quarry road leading to the other side of the pond where he will set up the rest of the day. This end is the floating end, allowed to move within brackets.
The crane will arrive soon, it might be the same one that pulled the old bridge out before it was hacked up by chainsaws. The dry grass squashes under my feet as I walk by the John Deer tractor with a tank and fire pump on the fork lift--a precaution needed this time of the year. I pass by a large parked diesel flatbed carrying the counterweights for the crane. Down the road I hear the diesel engine of the multi-axle crane winding itself down the road.
It took the crane operator over an hour just to maneuver the crane into place, pruning a few more trees in the process. Workers prepared tools and started the welder/generator that would power the drills and saws in the remote location. The crane operator loads the counterweights and slowly maneuvered the retracted hydraulic crane, pruning branches as it swung into position. Hitched to the first truss, the crane operator easily picked up the truss at four points, adeptly raising it while workers maneuvered the truss into place. It happened so quickly I was out of position to capture it with my camera.
I look at our work platforms supporting 6x6 outriggers. Everything is going as we planned. Steel bases set in concrete are ready for attaching the ends.
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee304/modela/a85a4b61-1e7d-4fc1-8168-ea346343c6fd_zps9e07aa4a.jpg (http://s235.photobucket.com/user/modela/media/a85a4b61-1e7d-4fc1-8168-ea346343c6fd_zps9e07aa4a.jpg.html)
Notice here the outriggers (6X6) sitting on the cribbing platforms. Diagonal braces were applied to stabilize the truss. The water is low now but will typically rise above the level of the bridge decking at certain times in the winter. At this time the welder was welding the end shoes on the steel end supports.
The work platforms that were erected the week before with cribbing to support the outriggers and provide secure platforms to work from. The low water level typical of this time of year allowed for placement of cribbing and posts supporting The work platforms. In the middle I cross a floating dock as it dips slightly from my weight. We up it there to allow workers to shuttle back and forth.
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee304/modela/21602416-d24e-4c68-8a1b-2863448a3b66_zpsd4931a97.jpg (http://s235.photobucket.com/user/modela/media/21602416-d24e-4c68-8a1b-2863448a3b66_zpsd4931a97.jpg.html)
Across the pond I see a dark cloud punch out of the exhaust with the diesel taking the load of the hydraulic pump. With precision I hadn''t expected the operator stands the truss up and then lifts the truss high overhead to clear the canopy. Swinging a radius of over forty feet, two crew members swing the truss slowly as the crane operator guides it above brush and around trees. It happens quickly and when placed the crane hangs over, the stabilizer until the outriggers are linked to the diagonal brace.
It seems like a long time to get the braces in place but in actuality it isn't. Stabilized now, the crane is released to fetch the next truss. The second truss is lifted higher as it is lifted and moved out over the pond. From my viewpoint you can see the diagonal braces that hold the truss erect being attached to the second truss. while the crane again acts as a guardian of the vertical position of the truss.
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee304/modela/a2450f86-6aab-4ee8-8a32-62711a528ca5_zpsb20ad8d0.jpg (http://s235.photobucket.com/user/modela/media/a2450f86-6aab-4ee8-8a32-62711a528ca5_zpsb20ad8d0.jpg.html)
In the foreground Butch, the welder, attaches the shoe to the base while Munch regulates the welder. Cowboy and another worker above secure one span to another. As we wait here and there he tells me about fishing near here as a kid. He tells me about projects he has worked on like a covered bridge in Cottage Grove, decommissioning a nuclear plant in Colorado, project large and small.
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee304/modela/b9b2c220-2b2d-497c-b987-3c4a0906d96e_zpscb4b4c8a.jpg (http://s235.photobucket.com/user/modela/media/b9b2c220-2b2d-497c-b987-3c4a0906d96e_zpscb4b4c8a.jpg.html)
At 1:00 p.m. the bridge rests securely in place, both sides braced to the outriggers and the tops secured. Butch packs up, returns my tape measure and we shake hands. It is quiet now, minus the drone of the welder, the throaty diesel engine on the crane, and the impact drumming of the impact wrenches. It is time to reflect. Gone is the frustration of waiting over a year as the trusses lay horizontally on cribbing. After sitting over a year on the sides, waiting for all review, scrutiny, and proper timing, the bridge halves are erect and stable. There is a big sigh of relief as the Pisgah volunteers clean up, stopping to admire their efforts.
There are more outriggers to attach, more diagonal braces, more cross braces, and of course the ramps and the decking. This will revert to our original volunteer group. Tomorrow we plan the next stages of the assembly.
This is the third bridge in many years, the first two victim of age. In a way we are fighting a losing battle. Even our treated wood will succumb to dry rot over time even though we assembled it and sent it out to be pressure treated to assure even the holes were treated. Most likely the ends of concrete and steel will fare better, having outlasted the two previous wooden bridges that rested on them. Like its predecessors, the Atkinson bridge will see children looking for frogs, vegetation, birds and other wildlife. Guided tours will utilize it as a vantage point.
The Pisgah crew loads up tools, pizza boxes, Starbucks coffee boxes, and doughnut sacks, picks up tools, and heads back to the old house of the caretaker Tom for a beer. One last look. Yes it is there. We are fading. It is almost four o'clock. We meet and reflect on the quality of workers that volunteered for the project. Even as volunteers we seek to emulate them. There are talented people among us including carpenters, metal workers, planners, but the workers we see are together daily, like family, they say.
It was Saturday, July 22, 2013, 7:00 a.m. when I arrived. I drove about 1/2 mile in on a gravel road and then across a mowed grass field. At one side were huge chunks of the old bridge, glue lams about 1' x 5' cut into four foot lengths. They had been condemned a few years back as a result of dry rot over the years taking its toll. The Atkinson bridge was the replacement. I bump along the rough field and park along a row of 4x4 Ford and Chevy pickups, all white, newer company pickups of the two commercial companies donating there time on a Saturday to pull things together.
It is quiet now, quiet like it is when I walk the trails of Buford Park and Mt. Pisgah. Ahead of me I hear the little two cylinder Onan driven Lincoln Welder come alive as Butch, the welder anchors a couple of angle brackets on one side of the pond. He welds them to a large angle that has been previously prepared. He finishes, coils the leads and heads back to the entrance to the Quarry road leading to the other side of the pond where he will set up the rest of the day. This end is the floating end, allowed to move within brackets.
The crane will arrive soon, it might be the same one that pulled the old bridge out before it was hacked up by chainsaws. The dry grass squashes under my feet as I walk by the John Deer tractor with a tank and fire pump on the fork lift--a precaution needed this time of the year. I pass by a large parked diesel flatbed carrying the counterweights for the crane. Down the road I hear the diesel engine of the multi-axle crane winding itself down the road.
It took the crane operator over an hour just to maneuver the crane into place, pruning a few more trees in the process. Workers prepared tools and started the welder/generator that would power the drills and saws in the remote location. The crane operator loads the counterweights and slowly maneuvered the retracted hydraulic crane, pruning branches as it swung into position. Hitched to the first truss, the crane operator easily picked up the truss at four points, adeptly raising it while workers maneuvered the truss into place. It happened so quickly I was out of position to capture it with my camera.
I look at our work platforms supporting 6x6 outriggers. Everything is going as we planned. Steel bases set in concrete are ready for attaching the ends.
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee304/modela/a85a4b61-1e7d-4fc1-8168-ea346343c6fd_zps9e07aa4a.jpg (http://s235.photobucket.com/user/modela/media/a85a4b61-1e7d-4fc1-8168-ea346343c6fd_zps9e07aa4a.jpg.html)
Notice here the outriggers (6X6) sitting on the cribbing platforms. Diagonal braces were applied to stabilize the truss. The water is low now but will typically rise above the level of the bridge decking at certain times in the winter. At this time the welder was welding the end shoes on the steel end supports.
The work platforms that were erected the week before with cribbing to support the outriggers and provide secure platforms to work from. The low water level typical of this time of year allowed for placement of cribbing and posts supporting The work platforms. In the middle I cross a floating dock as it dips slightly from my weight. We up it there to allow workers to shuttle back and forth.
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee304/modela/21602416-d24e-4c68-8a1b-2863448a3b66_zpsd4931a97.jpg (http://s235.photobucket.com/user/modela/media/21602416-d24e-4c68-8a1b-2863448a3b66_zpsd4931a97.jpg.html)
Across the pond I see a dark cloud punch out of the exhaust with the diesel taking the load of the hydraulic pump. With precision I hadn''t expected the operator stands the truss up and then lifts the truss high overhead to clear the canopy. Swinging a radius of over forty feet, two crew members swing the truss slowly as the crane operator guides it above brush and around trees. It happens quickly and when placed the crane hangs over, the stabilizer until the outriggers are linked to the diagonal brace.
It seems like a long time to get the braces in place but in actuality it isn't. Stabilized now, the crane is released to fetch the next truss. The second truss is lifted higher as it is lifted and moved out over the pond. From my viewpoint you can see the diagonal braces that hold the truss erect being attached to the second truss. while the crane again acts as a guardian of the vertical position of the truss.
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee304/modela/a2450f86-6aab-4ee8-8a32-62711a528ca5_zpsb20ad8d0.jpg (http://s235.photobucket.com/user/modela/media/a2450f86-6aab-4ee8-8a32-62711a528ca5_zpsb20ad8d0.jpg.html)
In the foreground Butch, the welder, attaches the shoe to the base while Munch regulates the welder. Cowboy and another worker above secure one span to another. As we wait here and there he tells me about fishing near here as a kid. He tells me about projects he has worked on like a covered bridge in Cottage Grove, decommissioning a nuclear plant in Colorado, project large and small.
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee304/modela/b9b2c220-2b2d-497c-b987-3c4a0906d96e_zpscb4b4c8a.jpg (http://s235.photobucket.com/user/modela/media/b9b2c220-2b2d-497c-b987-3c4a0906d96e_zpscb4b4c8a.jpg.html)
At 1:00 p.m. the bridge rests securely in place, both sides braced to the outriggers and the tops secured. Butch packs up, returns my tape measure and we shake hands. It is quiet now, minus the drone of the welder, the throaty diesel engine on the crane, and the impact drumming of the impact wrenches. It is time to reflect. Gone is the frustration of waiting over a year as the trusses lay horizontally on cribbing. After sitting over a year on the sides, waiting for all review, scrutiny, and proper timing, the bridge halves are erect and stable. There is a big sigh of relief as the Pisgah volunteers clean up, stopping to admire their efforts.
There are more outriggers to attach, more diagonal braces, more cross braces, and of course the ramps and the decking. This will revert to our original volunteer group. Tomorrow we plan the next stages of the assembly.
This is the third bridge in many years, the first two victim of age. In a way we are fighting a losing battle. Even our treated wood will succumb to dry rot over time even though we assembled it and sent it out to be pressure treated to assure even the holes were treated. Most likely the ends of concrete and steel will fare better, having outlasted the two previous wooden bridges that rested on them. Like its predecessors, the Atkinson bridge will see children looking for frogs, vegetation, birds and other wildlife. Guided tours will utilize it as a vantage point.
The Pisgah crew loads up tools, pizza boxes, Starbucks coffee boxes, and doughnut sacks, picks up tools, and heads back to the old house of the caretaker Tom for a beer. One last look. Yes it is there. We are fading. It is almost four o'clock. We meet and reflect on the quality of workers that volunteered for the project. Even as volunteers we seek to emulate them. There are talented people among us including carpenters, metal workers, planners, but the workers we see are together daily, like family, they say.