[WRE | SPOTLIGHT] Falling rock, instability, and high river water


were just a few of the many challenges at the onset, he indicated. “A couple of the peers for the large main platform fell within the high-high water mark, and even the rock we were building on had some insufficiencies, and we had to pre-brace for some of our micro-pile foundations.” Te 20 or so workers consistently onsite have had to keep an eye on rocks coming down the hill, high water, an unusual amount of snowfall last winter, and low temps. Additionally, the road coming into the job through


the canyon is only one lane. “Bringing in materials has required some creativity,” explained Edlund. “We had to bring in those main cables two at a time; we’d have to time it just right at the lay-down area at the jobsite. We’d have to time one truck up at a time in town to come up and unload, and then communicate with the next truck, because there’s no cell phone service up here. You have to hold the guy in town until the other truck is good.” And then there was the canyon. “We still had to get materials to the other side of the river [the south side],” Edlund pointed out. “Te existing bridge was built in the thirties by the CCC, and has a weight limit of forty thousand pounds. We had to get large equipment across that canyon—so we had to break up our loads to keep them under forty thousand.” Fortunately for RSCI, the job moved along in a


pre-constructive phase for quite a while, allowing them to manage the deliverables efficiently. “We had time to really get into the nuts and bolts of our material, whether it was cables or bridge super structure steel material—all prepared well ahead of time—but we needed to get everything delivered in as close to a ‘just in time’ way as possible. It had to be done just right— the cables, the installation, the delivery of steel, and then even the bridge deck reinforcement.”


Strength in Numbers A key subcontractor, Inland Foundations, also out of Boise, performed the technical foundation work, and is also performing the installation of the main cable system. “Tey built a temporary trolley system to shuttle the main cable from the tower on the north side all the way to the abutment on the south side,” Edlund noted. “From there, the cranes actually picked the cable, set it in the shackles, and they can make adjustments to it from the north end using a jacking system.” Te bridge hangs beneath the cables, with a portion of the south side actually above the cables. “Te concrete structure on the south side was very technical to build, so we came up with a unique way to build half of that structure so that we could install the first half of cables,” said Edlund.” Inland finished up the


Photo courtesy of RSCI


“THE EXISTING BRIDGE WAS BUILT IN THE THIRTIES BY THE CCC, AND HAS A WEIGHT LIMIT OF FORTY THOUSAND POUNDS. WE HAD TO GET LARGE EQUIPMENT ACROSS THAT CANYON—SO WE HAD TO BREAK UP OUR LOADS TO KEEP THEM UNDER FORTY THOUSAND.”


first half of cables just before we finished up the second half of the structure.” Also involved early on in the design and securing of materials was Jerry Clodfelter, president at Houston- based Clodfelter Bridge and Structures International (CBSI). Edlund explained, “Jerry lent a lot of constructability knowledge and wire rope performance knowledge to the design team.” CBSI is still on the project in a consulting role. Clodfelter emphasized, “Our focus was cables, and we manufactured all the specialty items: the saddles, the clamps, the brackets, the imbeds, the cable sockets, the imbed rods—there was quite a bit of material.


WIRE ROPE EXCHANGE


SEPTEMBER–OCTOBER 2017


23


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