Recent sightings on the Willamette River Bridge project

From ODOT-

Our contracting team regularly takes amazing photos of the work under way. This means I get to share with you some of these one-of-a-kind views. Enjoy!

Here, a worker is finishing the surface of the new southbound bridge arch.

The size of this worker standing next to the temporary fish ladder on the south bank of the Willamette River illustrates how large it actually is. We’re also excited to say we’ve already seen fish using the ladder.

We recently told you about the extensive reuse and recycling of demolition waste that our crews do. In this picture, you can see just a small portion of the material that they work with.

Among the recycled materials is this reinforcing steel, which gave the temporary detour bridge its strength. The new southbound bridge is at left.

Above, you can get some idea of how large the bridge beams are from the demolished temporary detour bridge! Varying in length from 80 feet to 115 feet, each beam requires its own truck and dolly trailer to be hauled away from the site for reuse or demolition.

Here’s another shot of beams from the temporary detour bridge being prepared for transport. While our worker is safely protected from falling into the rushing waters below, this job is definitely not for the faint of heart!

 

Taking the temporary bridge down

From ODOT-

Bridge demolition is fun to watch, as shown by these pictures taken as we removed the original Willamette River Bridge in 2009. We are using the same process to remove the temporary bridge.

No, it’s not a scene from “Transformers.” It’s a specialized hydraulic crane crunching a big bite out of the old bridge.

Multiple demolition cranes worked to demolish the original bridge and sort through the rubble.



Demolition of a bridge column reveals the steel bars that give it strength. Recycling as much steel, concrete and other construction materials as we can saves taxpayer dollars and significantly reduces the project’s waste stream.