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53 °F Forecast | Road Cams Wednesday, April 27, 2005 Today's News | Shop Our Valley | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery | Contact Us SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Health Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley SHOP OUR VALLEY AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Classified Place an ad TOP JOBS EXTRA Ashland News NIE Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Moving here? eSouthernOregon CUSTOMER SERVICE FAQ's Advertise with us Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend April 27, 2005 Details of massive bridge move are being worked out By SANNE SPECHT Mail Tribune ROGUE RIVER — As a new 550-ton concrete arch bridge looms ever larger, so does the deadline for moving the $10 million bridge to its final footings 25 feet downstream. The logistics of how to get it there are still being figured out by a Holland-based engineering firm with an office in Texas. Jack Tol, an engineer for Mammoet, says his company specializes in heavy lifting and transport challenges. Tol says engineers are still doing studies on the bridge’s approaching short trip down the Rogue River. Tol says the process is already figured out. The bridge will be moved by hydraulic cylinders on a customized skidding system. Once in place, it will be lowered and maneuvered into place. But crucial details on how to make it all happen are still being worked out. Community concerns demanded that traffic keep flowing while a replacement for the city’s main link to the Rogue Valley was constructed. But that created quite a design challenge. Advertisement The new 300-foot-long, tied-arch bridge is designed in two spans. Span I goes from Highway 99 to Coyote Evans Park and is being built exactly where it will be for decades. But Span II is being built 25 feet upriver from where it belongs. Mike Kuntz, Jackson County construction engineer,says the bridge’s undecided engineering issues are not slowing construction. The massive arches are nearing completion and concrete will start to flow into wooden forms in the next couple of weeks, he says. Once the concrete has cured, the forms will be removed, and the arches will be fitted with tension cables to add strength. After the last footing and tie is added to the project, the old bridge will be closed for demolition and traffic will be moved temporarily onto one of the new bridge’s two 12-foot-wide travel lanes. When the old bridge is gone, the new one can be moved into place. There were no takers on the $2 million asking price for the old steel Depot Street Bridge. Now it belongs to the contractor, Ross Brothers, says Kuntz. "I don’t know if they’ll move it, or simply tear it down," says Kuntz. Kuntz says the new bridge’s size has drawn mixed reviews. The arches are clearly visible from I-5 and dwarf the old green bridge, which has served the community for half a century. But Kuntz says subjective comments on whether the new bridge is a monument to technology or simply too large for its location are "esthetic arguments" and don’t have any bearing on the design’s practical nature. "We needed the width of the bridge that’s there," said Kuntz. "And the size of the arches are dictated by the physics of it all." If construction remains on schedule, the unprecedented bridge move should take place around Thanksgiving, he says. Rumors that the Discovery Channel will be watching this first-ever engineering feat don’t faze Tol. He’s not giving out too many details, but he does say "it’s going to take awhile." "Speed is the secret," Tol says. "If anyone wants to watch it, they should bring a chair and drinks and food." Reach reporter Sanne Spechtat 776-4497 or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback Free Music Downloads Conference Calls - $50/Month Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker, Trunk, Footlockers home equity loans helzberg Distance Education Diamonds Online Poker Slippers Student Loans Tatoo tcg student loan consolidation teleconferencing Website Design & Marketing Memory Foam Mattress w2 forms Tatoos Advertisement s