BMEWS
 
Death once had a near-Sarah Palin experience.

calendar   Monday - December 08, 2014

Part of a two day celebration in honor of a bridge. Drew will appreciate this.

The Clifton Suspension Bridge, spanning the picturesque Avon Gorge, is the symbol of the city of Bristol. For almost 150 years this Grade I listed structure has attracted visitors from all over the world.

image

Ten of thousands of people have attended a spectacular fireworks display in Bristol to mark 150 years of the Clifton Suspension Bridge. The display was part of a two-day celebration for Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s structure, which joins Bristol to North Somerset and was designed by the engineer in 1829.

The bridge joins Bristol and North Somerset and is owned and operated by Clifton Suspension Bridge Trust. It is entirely funded by tolls - which have paid for its upkeep since it first opened to the public on 8th December 1864. We are open and manned 24 hours a day, 7 days a week throughout the year.

image

image


avatar

Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 12/08/2014 at 07:25 AM   
Filed Under: • BridgesUK •  
Comments (1) Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

calendar   Friday - March 28, 2014

A Nice New Erection

And a decent size one too, considering that it’s white!

A Bridge Grows In Hunterdon

The new White Bridge Road bridge over in Franklin Township is nearly finished. The old one, an iron truss built in 1886, was a beat up, rotten hulk that not even massive life support could save. So after years worth of designing, funds finding, neighborhood bickering, and a slew of not always sympathetic press, last summer the old bridge went away. And work began on the new one, from the water’s edge on up. New foundations, new abutments, and a new drainage system went in. The pre-fabricated trusses were ordered ... and then winter set in early, and work came to a halt. With nearly all the snow gone by early March, the trusses were delivered and dropped in place with a crane. After that all the beams, stringers, guard rails, feet, straps, and now the deck plating went in. It’s nearly done, save for laying on some asphalt, hooking in some new guard rail, and repaving the road on both ends. And (drum roll please) I’m pretty sure that it’s a real truss bridge. The lower chords are not so massive that they could carry the entire weight themselves. No, the truss is actually doing its job. And the trusses are big enough, just barely, for a road that wide. And that’s a good thing. Because we love our old bridges here in Hunterdon County, and sometimes this has lead to cost saving designs where the new bridge is actually a simple girder span, but with a pretend truss stuck on top, to “make it look right”. Hey, we derive a lot of income around here based on our country quaintness, so it behooves us to pay attention and do things like this project properly.

Click any of the pictures for a much larger version.


image
View from the West end, showing the 16’ skew. Skew means the sides are offset from each other; from above the bridge is a polygon, not a rectangle.

image
View from the East end. Note moderate sized lower chords and beams.

image
A nice view of the lattices and a peak underneath.

image
Detail view of lattices, decking, guard rails, two piece lower chord



I thought at first they had actually put this together with rivets, but all those bumps are actually nuts and bolts. Which are stronger than rivets, and easier to maintain. You betcha, they’ve built a white bridge on White Bridge Road (when the county painted the old bridge green once, the neighborhood turned up in the middle of the night with gallons of white paint and “fixed” that error!); it’s a real truss bridge ( an alternating verticals Warren pony truss using gusset plates instead of pinned sections ), and it has some actual lattice in it. Lattice - also sometimes called lacing - is the criss-cross strapping used to connect one smaller bit of beam to another one, to make a bigger, stronger beam while using less steel. Back in the day when steel was expensive and labor cheap, metal bridges were made almost entirely of latticed bits. This one has a few real lattices, where the beam is built from two lesser pieces, and several false ones, where a big solid beam was used, and lattice was just tacked on later for show. Both are easy to spot in the last picture.

The new bridge is two generous lanes wide, and I’m sure that it will be rated at at least 30 tons. Which means emergency vehicles can now cross the bridge when necessary, instead of having to drive 5 miles around the other way. Unfortunately, heavy trucks will now be able to cross as well, which is why the neighborhood wanted to keep the dilapidated old bridge. Because nobody wants their quiet street of expensive antique rural homes turning into a shortcut to the highway for big rigs at all hours of the day and night. Although I doubt that would happen here anyway, given that White Bridge Road is sort of off in a quiet corner to begin with.

So there you have it: a brand new modern bridge, built to look like it was made 90 years ago. And I’m sure it will get a nice power washing before the opening ceremony, which ought to be pretty soon.


avatar

Posted by Drew458   United States  on 03/28/2014 at 12:29 PM   
Filed Under: • Bridges •  
Comments (2) Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

meanwhile, here in Hunterdon

My post on Barnes Wallis, “Winning the war with weeds and seawater: the geodetic airframe” is taking far longer than expected. Just too darn many links and too many interesting side tracks. Like why the Pidgeon Process for isolating magnesium is so bad for Climate Change.

So here’s a picture  of Islamic Rage Boy with a pancake on his head  of the new bridge going up 3 hills over here, the new white bridge on White Bridge Road.

image

Pretty neat, huh? It’s a half connected Warren pony truss. But what makes it super neat is that the bridge was designed to carry modern loads while still looking like an old time bridge. So note the lacing between the beams, and the extensive use of rivets on the gusset plates. Cool. Because the folks in the neighborhood really really loved their old iron bridge (ca 1898), but it was just too beat up, too rotted away, and too weak to do the job any longer. 

If the rain lets up, I’ll run down to the job site today and get some fresh pictures. For now, here’s a link.

And Barnes Wallis? What a genius. What an amazing natural engineer. If Wallace, from the claymation films featuring Wallace and Gromit wasn’t named in his honor, he ought to have been. Cracking toast, what a brain he had.

Never heard of him? Actually, you probably have. He’s the WWII Dam Busters guy, but that was one of his lesser accomplishments.

image

On May 16, 1943, 19 aircraft took off from RAF Scampton, Lincs, to fly to Germany’s industrial heartland and destroy the heavily-defended Mohne, Eder and Sorpe dams on the River Ruhr.

The Lancasters were carrying 9,000lb of ­“glorified dustbins” – bouncing bombs designed by Sir Barnes Wallis, the “wizard boffin” immortalised in the gung-ho 1955 film The Dambusters.

Almost half of the 113 airmen who took off on that historic mission never made it back.

Hopgood and Byers were among the 53 British, American, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand airmen killed.

Three others were shot down and taken prisoner while 1,294 people on the ground in Germany were killed – many prisoners in forced labour camps.
,,,
“When Barnes Wallis heard about the losses he broke down and cried. He said ‘I’ve killed all those young men’.”

But, Johnny [Sqdr Leader John “Johnny” Johnson] says, Guy Gibson told him: “No Barnes, you didn’t. Without you that raid could never have taken place.”

image
Dr. Barnes Willis, pictured in front of a Lancaster bomber, perhaps one used in Operation Chastise.


avatar

Posted by Drew458   United States  on 03/28/2014 at 09:51 AM   
Filed Under: • BridgesHistoryMilitaryUK •  
Comments (1) Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

calendar   Friday - November 29, 2013

a bridge for drew

Well, I did say I was late on everything.

Note to Drew.

Meant to have this as a welcome back present combined with your Christmas gift. So now I don’t have to spend big bucks on a card cos that bridge I got sold was kinda pricy.

Welcome home. Just in time for winter. Good move. lol.

image


avatar

Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 11/29/2013 at 06:40 AM   
Filed Under: • Bridges •  
Comments (2) Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

calendar   Friday - November 01, 2013

More Fun Than Gnomes Or Flamingos

Nice Lawn Ornament



image


If it were mine, I’d make sure there was a troll living underneath.

And yeah, this one is mostly local to me, and it’s a nearly priceless bit of history. But nobody pays attention to bridges, so nobody knows or cares.

This one is old. Very old. Before the Civil War old. And while it may not be older than stink, it’s older than Fink (and Howe! Well, in iron anyway), and that makes it nearly one of a kind.


avatar

Posted by Drew458   United States  on 11/01/2013 at 03:33 PM   
Filed Under: • Bridges •  
Comments (3) Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

calendar   Thursday - October 31, 2013

Rivetopia

Galavanting with a purpose

The 7 Bridges of Twin Rivers

Where the Lehigh River Meets the Delaware River in Phillipsburg NJ, Old Bridges Abound

Coming over from Easton Pennsylvania, the 1937 Pennsylvania Petite through truss Easton-Phillipsburg Toll Bridge, in all it’s moderne glory, sits just 200 yards up the Delaware River from the highly unusual 1895 cantilever through truss Northampton Street bridge with all it’s odd decorative bits. 100 yards downstream the Lehigh River pours in from the west over a 12 foot tall waterfall, adding significant flow to the shallow Delaware. Hardly 100 yards behind the waterfall, an old CNJ Pratt truss carries the railway over the closed spandrel George S Smith concrete arch bridge, a nice shallow arch bridge from just before WWI that brings the road across the end of the Lehigh. Less than a stone’s throw to the east, back on the Delaware a 3 span turn of the century Parker through truss brings the CNJ over the Delaware and right up to the Lehigh. From an earlier age, yet only a few dozen yards away, a multi-span Pratt deck truss brought the D&L RR across the river until the late 1950’s or 60’s. Barely 10 feet away an under-slung “fishbelly” Warren deck truss once brought the CNJ line out of PA and into NJ across the Delaware, and may still be in use by whoever owns the lines in this day and age. You can barely see them in the picture of the 3 span Parker, but they’re there, hanging down behind it.

Somewhat incongruously, from a small park on the Easton PA side of confluence, a rather rare Mk III Driggs-Schroeder rapid fire 6pdr 2.244” naval gun from the 1880s watches over the bridges and the waters, in case Somali pirates should someday be so bold as to venture this far. And while the internet may claim that a Mk III was a Hotchkiss, there is just no arguing with the Driggs horseshoe breach design, even if the dummies in the parks system did manage to mount the gun backwards in its carriage.

All in all, it was a fun little trip through history on a gray and soggy late October’s day. Big iron and steel, millions of hand hammered rivets. Rivet-topia. And for whatever problems it might have, that corner of Easton PA is loaded with 1850s-1920s buildings, many with cast iron decorations, that recall an earlier time when the city was a happening place.

image image image image image


avatar

Posted by Drew458   United States  on 10/31/2013 at 03:13 PM   
Filed Under: • Bridges •  
Comments (2) Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

calendar   Sunday - September 08, 2013

Pushing Back In The East End

Over The River and Through The Bridge

2nd Time’s The Charm As English Defence League Marches Deep Into

Sharia-run London’s East End



h/t Gates of Vienna


image

The English Defence League marched across Tower Bridge in London today and held a demo on the outskirts of the heavily enriched borough of Tower Hamlets. As usual, Muslim and UAF protesters scuffled with police while attempting to reach the EDL demonstrators. Tommy Robinson, the leader of the EDL, was arrested for incitement [his speech ran 5 minutes over his allotted time] and was still being held at the police station this evening.

image

To Tower Bridge for the EDL’s second attempt to march and demonstrate against sharia law and other nasties in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.

Frankly, this was 1936 in reverse. In 1936 Sir Oswald Mosley and his blackshirts of the British Union of Fascists wanted to march (in uniform, as well) from the Tower Of London to Victoria Park (which straddles the two boroughs of Hackney and Bethnal Green). They tried several routes but were stopped at Whitechapel and in Cable Street, which being so far south was not an obvious route to take. The police advised Mosley to turn back and the march was cancelled. While the incident is known as the Battle of Cable Street most of the old newsreel showing the fighting was filmed by the Royal Mint and at Gardener’s Corner, outside a department store (long gone) at the junction of Commercial Road and Aldgate.

Then, the blackshirts marched on the East End and were stopped. Now the black flags of jihad and anarchy, the black veils and cloaks of sharia hold the East End and it was the descendants of the Londoners who stopped Mosley who were trying to enter.

Naturally all sorts of counter-protests went off, though the police kept things from turning into a riot. The nerve of these EDL types, wanting White Christian Europe to remain White Christian Europe. How dare they!?!

image




I am no expert in understanding what the EDL (and by extension, all the other European nation’s Defense Leagues) are all about ... but they get painted with some pretty vile colors in the press. Fascists, racists, moronic skinheads, violent drunkards and layabouts. The New KKK. And worse. And yet they seem to be just about the only groups on the whole continent who understand that their cultures are being destroyed by PC and the pisslamic infitada/diaspora. They are against letting Europe become Eurabia, so probably I should give them my support.



Tommy has a go. The good stuff starts at 4:20


another part. can’t seem to find the whole speech yet



Meanwhile ... Sweden rolls over and slits its own throat?

Sweden grants blanket asylum to Syrian refugees

Sweden on Tuesday became the first European Union country to announce it will give asylum to all Syrian refugees who apply.

“All Syrian asylum seekers who apply for asylum in Sweden will get it,” Annie Hoernblad, the spokesperson for Sweden’s migration agency, told AFP.

“The agency made this decision now because it believes the violence in Syria will not end in the near future.”

The decision, which will give refugees permanent resident status, is valid until further notice, added Hoernblad.

Until now, Sweden could only house refugees temporarily for three years, after each individual case was evaluated by the state.

The agency expects that the “vast majority of Syrian nationals who today have provisional status will apply for permanent status,” said Hoernblad.

Those granted permanent status will also be allowed to bring their families to Sweden.

The move came as the United Nations said the number of refugees fleeing the conflict in Syria had passed two million, which the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, called “the great tragedy of this century”.

Since 2012, Sweden has taken in some 14,700 asylum seekers from Syria.

So with a stroke of a pen, Sweden just became Palestine II. And while they think they’re doing a great act of humanitarianism, what they’ve really done is far more than let the camel’s nose into the tent. They’ve just flushed 1300 years of their own culture down the crapper, and invited the vampires into their homes. Horry Clap. I give them 5 years, 10 at the most. What’s the point of any EDL if the governments are going to cave this forcefully? Do none of these idiots see the problems that are guaranteed to come along, hand in glove, with this act? Do they pay no attention at all to the crime stats next door in Norway?

Sometimes, I just want to give up.


avatar

Posted by Drew458   United States  on 09/08/2013 at 11:25 AM   
Filed Under: • BridgesRoPMASharia law •  
Comments (2) Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

calendar   Thursday - July 25, 2013

Armchair Bridge Hunting

Under The Dome, But Still On The Internet



If you’ve been watching the new CBS “lifeboat drama” Under The Dome as I have, you’ve seen dozens of scenes take place on and under an old white truss bridge somewhere on the edge of town. Leave it to Drew to hunt that bridge down posthaste.


image
scene cap: Deputy Esquivel confronts the Army and the media from her side of the invisible Dome barrier.

image
scene cap: Joe McAlister and Norrie Hill walking across the bridge. Of course I found a pic with a redhead in it!

Note the bridge’s laced verticals, the plate strengthened split diagonals, and the original open lattice guard rail. These are all earmarks of bridges built circa 1890-1920. This isn’t a pin-connected truss, it’s a riveted one, so that puts it towards the newer end of that date range. Call it about 1905-1920.



This is the Harry Forden Bridge in New Hanover County North Carolina, on the north side of the town of Wilmington. It’s also known as the North 6th Avenue Bridge, and it crosses over an abandoned rail line. It was built in 1911.

image

image

image

We have a match. Another TV bridge, successfully hunted.



http://www.cbs.com/shows/under-the-dome/photos/1000531/season-1-episode-5/40672/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/adamontheroad/2411274529/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/groups/nhbridges/pool/
http://www.wilmingtonnc.gov/Portals/0/documents/Common%20Files/6th_ST_BRIDGE.pdf
http://bridgehunter.com/nc/new-hanover/1290033/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under_the_Dome_%28TV_series%29


Stick a fork in it, we’re done: red house, white house, teal house: match the houses in the screen caps at the top of this post with this snip from Bing Maps (34.24361, -77.94278). Perfect match.
image


That wasn’t too hard at all. Took me less than half an hour, compared with the 10 days it took me to find the bridge from House. I’m getting pretty good at this stuff I think.



avatar

Posted by Drew458   United States  on 07/25/2013 at 11:32 AM   
Filed Under: • BridgesHollywood •  
Comments (9) Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

calendar   Monday - June 17, 2013

Hone Your Bridge Skills



image



Sure, you’re thinking “Warren pony truss with outriggers”. You’ve shown us a million of them Drew.

And generally, you’d be right.

Except that this one is made of wood, almost completely. The top and bottom chords, the diagonals. All wood. Except for those verticals, which are iron rods. Well, at least some are. Some look like wood. Bit hard to see. And that makes it a Howe truss.

Howe trusses were used for covered bridges, and later on for railroad bridges. In steel it’s a very strong design. In wood, it gets the job done as long as the job isn’t too big. Wood is pretty good under compression, but really weak under tension. So wrought iron was used for the verticals, because it excels under tension.

Actually, the thing is probably classified as a beam girder and pier supported culvert crossing. It’s almost too small to be an actual bridge, and you can see that the underpinnings are about 30 times heftier than the poles used to make the truss. 36” girders with railroad ties over them. So the upper is just for show. It’s a fancy railing.

Wasted bridal party acting totally sleazy? Never even saw ‘em.

LOL


avatar

Posted by Drew458   United States  on 06/17/2013 at 06:33 PM   
Filed Under: • BridgesFun-Stuff •  
Comments (6) Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

calendar   Tuesday - June 04, 2013

The Second Of The Last Of The First

Yet another Phoenix Column bridge in my area, in the next county over. This one now serves as a gateway to a bicycle trail along Duke’s Island south of Raritan NJ, but it was originally built to carry a railroad.


image

image

image

So there you have it. The second oldest example of the few remaining earliest iron bridges in the state.


I think I have now visited every Phoenix Column bridge in the whole state. Certainly every one in the tri-county area. Although the bridges differ in length, height, width, and design, all the Phoenix Columns seem to be the same diameter. I thought there might be thicker ones or slimmer ones, depending on the load each bridge was designed to carry, but they’re all the same. “Good enough for all” must have been their cost-efficiency watchword.

See More Below The Fold

avatar

Posted by Drew458   United States  on 06/04/2013 at 02:20 PM   
Filed Under: • Bridges •  
Comments (1) Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

calendar   Thursday - May 30, 2013

Me Too Me Too

Hey maybe this bridge hunting stuff is catching on. I see that Glen Reynolds over at Instapundit has a picture up today of the ongoing construction of the new Chapman Highway bridge across the Tennessee River in Knoxsville. His picture calls it “Calhoun’s Bridge”.

Me too.

Here’s a picture of an actual Calhoun’s, the Calhoun Street Bridge in Trenton NJ.

image

Built in 1884 by our favorite swords into plowshares builders The Phoenix Bridge Company, this 7 section simple span Pratt through truss is made of wrought iron and is nearly 1275 feet long. Almost 129 years old, the free bridge has been recently refurbished and sees 18,500 cars cross it daily over the Delaware River. No one is making the claim, but it is likely the longest Phoenix column bridge left in the world.

The bridge is actually older than cars, coming to life nearly a decade before any motorized vehicles existed in the USA. Times change; these days a sign on the bridge says HORSES NOT PERMITTED ON BRIDGE.

link1   link2   link3   link4   link 5

I’m off for a short trip down-county, to check on a bridge or two myself.


avatar

Posted by Drew458   United States  on 05/30/2013 at 11:05 AM   
Filed Under: • Bridges •  
Comments (0) Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

calendar   Saturday - May 25, 2013

Trestle Down Part 2

It’s Bush’s Fault!

Dems: GOP To Blame For Broken Bridge



MOUNT VERNON, Wash. (AP) — A truck hauling an oversized load of drilling equipment hit an overhead bridge girder on the major route between Seattle and Canada, sending a section of the interstate into the river below as the driver watched the structure collapse in his rearview mirror.

Two other vehicles plunged into the Skagit River, but all three occupants escaped with only minor injuries.

“He looked in the mirrors and it just dropped out of sight,” Cynthia Scott, the wife of truck driver William Scott, said Friday from the couple’s home near Spruce Grove, Alberta, just west of Edmonton. “I spoke to him seconds after it happened. He was just horrified.”


image



Dem: Republicans throwing infrastructure ‘under the bus’

A Washington state Democrat is accusing Republicans of “throwing American infrastructure … under the bus” after a bridge collapse there this week.

The portion of Interstate 5 in Washington that runs over the Skagit River collapsed on Thursday after a truck hit an overhead support structure, but Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) cited the incident in an interview as proof Republicans were blocking infrastructure investment to hurt President Obama politically.

“Well, they have clearly spent the whole last five years trying to tear the president down, but they have done it by throwing the American infrastructure and the society under the bus,” McDermott said in an interview with MSNBC host Al Sharpton. 

“We have the most long-term unemployed that we have had since the 1930s and there’s no excuse for that,” McDermott continued. “There is plenty of work in this society that needs to be done and all it means is that the Congress has to step up, put the money up, and we can have it.”

McDermott suggested that lawmakers could find extra money to pay for transportation projects by raising the 18.4 cents-per-gallon federal gas tax.

What a little secondhand shitwipe. Anything and everything that happens is ALWAYS the fault of the GOP or it’s leadership, past present or future. And the one and ONLY response from the Left is ... RAISE TAXES.

Because a new coat of paint on that bridge ... which actually looks fairly freshly painted with a good base coat of Rustoleum-like primer visible where the steel girders tore and twisted ... a new coat of paint would have defied the physics of kinetic energy. Yeah, that’s it. If only the GOP had let the Dems hire all those Chinese guest workers to paint and repair “our infrastructure” - of which repairs to this bridge may not have even been part - then 80 tons of steel hitting a girder at 70mph wouldn’t have done a thing.

What a tard.

image

A dented upper right corner and a scrape along the upper side are visible on the “oversize load” equipment casing being hauled a truck parked southbound on Interstate 5 south of the collapsed portion of the highway bridge at the Skagit River Friday, May 24, 2013, in Mount Vernon, Wash. The truck struck the four-lane bridge on the major thoroughfare between Seattle and Canada Thursday evening, sending a section of the span and two vehicles into the Skagit River. All three occupants suffered only minor injuries. At an overnight news conference, Washington State Patrol Chief John Batiste blamed the collapse on the tractor-trailer carrying a tall load that hit an upper part of the span. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)


avatar

Posted by Drew458   United States  on 05/25/2013 at 11:18 AM   
Filed Under: • BridgesDemocrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists •  
Comments (8) Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

calendar   Friday - May 24, 2013

Trestle Down

I-5 - Skagit River Bridge in Washington Suffers partial collapse after truck impact
Three people rescued from river, no fatalities or serious injuries


image
photo credit: Martha T, on Flickr


A truck carrying an oversize load struck a bridge on the major thoroughfare between Seattle and Canada, sending a section of the span and two vehicles into the Skagit River below, though all three occupants suffered only minor injuries.

It happened about 7 p.m. Thursday on the four-lane Interstate 5 bridge near Mount Vernon, about 60 miles north of Seattle, and disrupted travel in both directions.

Initially, it wasn’t clear if the bridge just gave way on its own. But at an overnight news conference, Washington State Patrol Chief John Batiste blamed it on a tractor-trailer carrying a tall load that hit an upper part of the span.

“For reasons unknown at this point in time, the semi struck the overhead of the bridge causing the collapse,” he said.

The truck made it off the bridge and the driver remained at the scene and cooperated with investigators.

Two other vehicles went into the water about 50 feet below as the structure crumbled. Three people were rescued and were recovering Friday.

Drivers were told to expect delays. Detours have been set up to try to ease the congestion. Batiste urged drivers to avoid the area if possible, especially over the Memorial Day weekend.

Traffic along the heavily travelled route could be affected for some time. The bridge is used by an average of 71,000 vehicles a day.

The bridge is a four section simple span Warren through truss with alternating verticals, a robust design for a steel bridge. Overhead clearance is 15.3 feet, 18” more than maximum legal truck height. Details are still emerging, but it looks to me like the truck went off the road, through the thin concrete guard rail, and took out one of the verticals, which in turn yanked out one of the central sway braces and tore the top chord along one side. With the top chord broken the truss folded inwards at that point, while dropping. And that’s exactly what you see in the picture: two triangular sections folded together because the top chord blew out. The dropping pulled both ends off their footings, and the whole section went down. Because this bridge is a simple span design - each section is separate and shares a footing on each pier - the damage was limited to only that one section. If you look closely at the large version of the picture on Martha T’s Flickr page, you can also see some damage to the third vertical from the left on the next section. I don’t know if that is new or old. Must have been one helluva impact.

This 1112 foot long bridge was built in 1955, and was recently (in bridge terms) rated as sufficient. More bridge info.


avatar

Posted by Drew458   United States  on 05/24/2013 at 11:21 AM   
Filed Under: • Bridges •  
Comments (3) Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

calendar   Thursday - April 25, 2013

Open Your Spandrels!

“The Most Photographed Spot In Oregon”

image



The Benson Bridge is the footbridge that traverses Multnomah Creek between the two cascades of Multnomah Falls. It has served as a distinguishing characteristic of the falls since it was built in 1914 by Simon Benson, one of the builders of the old Columbia highway. The bridge is probably the most photographed piece of architecture in Oregon and is a favorite of tourists from around the world. To be sure, the bridge is an obvious and inviting destination for visitors to the area to enjoy. On a summer weekend the short footpath to the bridge is as busy as a bus depot as people make their way up the feel of the spray from the falls, click photos, and get a great top-down view of the lower tier.

Simply gorge-us. And it isn’t too often that you get to see open spandrel arch bridges this small; the span is only 45 feet and the whole bridge is just 52 feet long. But it’s art, in concrete. Done as a public works project.

The Benson Bridge is a reinforced concrete deck arch bridge over Multnomah Creek between the two tiers of Multnomah Falls on the Multnomah Fall – Larch Mountain Trail. The 52-foot long structure consists of a single 45-foot parabolic open spandrel barrel arch span. The design of the main span is unique for bridges designed in Oregon. The main arch is reinforced with a built-up steel lattice frame similar to a built-up truss member, rather than traditional tied steel reinforcing bar. The spandrel columns and the rest of the concrete in the structure utilized the traditional reinforcing bar for concrete reinforcement.

Topping each of the spandrel columns on the Benson Bridge is a half elliptical spandrel curtain wall. The spandrel curtain walls complement the main arch span and create a seamless transition between the superstructure and the bridge’s deck and railing.
The 3.5-foot open balustrade railing that was utilized on many of the early structures on the Historic Columbia River Highway is another key feature on the Benson Bridge. The top of the balusters have quarter elliptical arches coming from each side of the baluster. When the balusters are placed side by side they create a series of small arches just under the rail cap that also accent the parabolic main span.

So technically this is still a truss bridge, although the truss is inside the concrete. Concrete is superb at bearing compression loading. It’s like, rock or something. And it’s a deck bridge (vs a pony or a through style) because the deck is on top and the support parts (arch, truss) are underneath. A spandrel is the area above the arch and below the deck; it’s the triangular-ish zone on either end of the bridge. This bridge has several pairs of columns in each spandrel, carrying the deck load directly to the arch. The “half eliptical spandrel curtain walls” can be seen here. These are just little arches between the tops of the spandrel columns. They don’t contribute much of anything to the strength of the bridge, which is why they’re called curtain walls, but they provide architectural continuity - big arch with smaller arches on top with smaller arches (the railings) on top of that - which gives the bridge an organic, slightly fractal, appearance. And makes it art. Nice job Mr. Benson.


image



h/t to Soylent Siberia, who has it as one of those animated .gifs.


avatar

Posted by Drew458   United States  on 04/25/2013 at 08:26 AM   
Filed Under: • Bridges •  
Comments (3) Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  
Page 2 of 4 pages  <  1 2 3 4 >

Five Most Recent Trackbacks:

Once Again, The One And Only Post
(4 total trackbacks)
Tracked at iHaan.org
The advantage to having a guide with you is thɑt an expert will haѵe very first hand experience dealing and navigating the river with гegional wildlife. Tһomas, there are great…
On: 07/28/23 10:37

The Brownshirts: Partie Deux; These aare the Muscle We've Been Waiting For
(3 total trackbacks)
Tracked at head to the Momarms site
The Brownshirts: Partie Deux; These aare the Muscle We’ve Been Waiting For
On: 03/14/23 11:20

Vietnam Homecoming
(1 total trackbacks)
Tracked at 广告专题配音 专业从事中文配音跟外文配音制造,北京名传天下配音公司
  专业从事中文配音和外文配音制作,北京名传天下配音公司   北京名传天下专业配音公司成破于2006年12月,是专业从事中 中文配音 文配音跟外文配音的音频制造公司,幻想飞腾配音网领 配音制作 有海内外优良专业配音职员已达500多位,可供给一流的外语配音,长年服务于国内中心级各大媒体、各省市电台电视台,能满意不同客户的各种需要。电话:010-83265555   北京名传天下专业配音公司…
On: 03/20/21 07:00

meaningless marching orders for a thousand travellers ... strife ahead ..
(1 total trackbacks)
Tracked at Casual Blog
[...] RTS. IF ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE IS CONSTRUED AS BEING CONTRARY TO THE LAWS APPL [...]
On: 07/17/17 04:28

a small explanation
(1 total trackbacks)
Tracked at yerba mate gourd
Find here top quality how to prepare yerba mate without a gourd that's available in addition at the best price. Get it now!
On: 07/09/17 03:07



DISCLAIMER
Allanspacer

THE SERVICES AND MATERIALS ON THIS WEBSITE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE HOSTS OF THIS SITE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF SATISFACTORY QUALITY, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WITH RESPECT TO THE SERVICE OR ANY MATERIALS.

Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:
  1. Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
  2. Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
  3. Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
  4. Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere
It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

THE INFORMATION AND OTHER CONTENTS OF THIS WEBSITE ARE DESIGNED TO COMPLY WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THIS WEBSITE SHALL BE GOVERNED BY AND CONSTRUED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND ALL PARTIES IRREVOCABLY SUBMIT TO THE JURISDICTION OF THE AMERICAN COURTS. IF ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE IS CONSTRUED AS BEING CONTRARY TO THE LAWS APPLICABLE IN ANY OTHER COUNTRY, THEN THIS WEBSITE IS NOT INTENDED TO BE ACCESSED BY PERSONS FROM THAT COUNTRY AND ANY PERSONS WHO ARE SUBJECT TO SUCH LAWS SHALL NOT BE ENTITLED TO USE OUR SERVICES UNLESS THEY CAN SATISFY US THAT SUCH USE WOULD BE LAWFUL.


Copyright © 2004-2015 Domain Owner



GNU Terry Pratchett


Oh, and here's some kind of visitor flag counter thingy. Hey, all the cool blogs have one, so I should too. The Visitors Online thingy up at the top doesn't count anything, but it looks neat. It had better, since I paid actual money for it.
free counters