The Two Towers XIV:
Heavy Lifting

Previous posts on the new Narrows Bridge:

  1. History of the Tacoma Narrows Bridges
  2. The Two Towers I: Intro
  3. The Two Towers II: Concrete Thinking
  4. The Two Towers III: Anchor Management Classes
  5. The Two Towers IV: Out & Down
  6. The Two Towers V: The Struts
  7. The Two Towers VI: To the Top
  8. The Two Towers VII: Stairway to Heaven
  9. The Two Towers VIII: Spinning Beginning
  10. The Two Towers IX: Wheels Over Water
  11. The New Bridge at Christmas
  12. The Two Towers X: Compacting the Cable
  13. The Two Towers XI: Cable Banding
  14. The Two Towers XII: The Cranes
  15. The Two Towers XIII: Life on the Bridge

 
For those who may be new to this series, I have been blogging the construction of the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge. See the above posts for more information on the Narrows Bridges, the engineering challenges, and a first-hand tour taken of the construction site.

1st bridge section

The towers are completed, the cables strung, the gantry cranes are in place–now it’s time for the big show: building the bridge deck.

Two shipments of bridge deck sections (of three total) have arrived from South Korea, and are waiting on the deck of specialized transport ships. One of these is moored just under the west end of the new bridge; the other waits in the Port of Tacoma until the first has been relieved of its load.

Several weeks passed after the gantry cranes were constructed on the cables. They moved around a bit–and were seen with odd-looking orange bags hanging from their cables:
Continue reading “The Two Towers XIV:
Heavy Lifting”