The 3 R’s for Willamette River Bridge: Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle

From ODOT-

Dismantling the temporary bridge over the Willamette River is ahead of schedule.

We are recycling or reusing a significant amount of material from the temporary detour bridge, saving money and reducing the project’s waste stream.

With the asphalt deck pavement removed, crews separate the support beams and lift each to the top of the bridge and load them on trucks for transport to an offsite area until they can be reused on other highway or local agency projects.

ODOT’s contractor, Hamilton Construction, will reuse 50 concrete beams from the temporary bridge to build a new viaduct and pedestrian path along the south bank of the river. Currently, 174* additional beams are slated to go in projects throughout Lane County and other parts of the state. In the end, nearly 70 percent of the 326 beams from the temporary bridge will find a home in this or another highway project.

The beams that are not identified for reuse in bridge projects are sawed in to smaller lengths and will be hauled off site and find uses such as retaining walls.

The concrete columns and cross beams are broken apart and the aggregates and reinforcing steel are separated and will be recycled or reused. We break up the concrete with hammers that run on all-natural canola oil, which reduces the risk of river contamination in case of a spill.

Most of the temporary detour bridge will be gone by the end of December. Then we’ll start building the footings and arches for the new northbound bridge.

*Corrected from 224.