THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 12, 1995 TAG: 9510120327
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAC DANIEL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Long : 103 lines
Six hundred tons of steel, 3 inches of clearance, an outgoing tide and an incoming wind.
The improbable mission: to remove the broken lift section from the Jordan Bridge, put it on a barge and float it up the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River to the Norfolk Naval Shipyard for repairs.
``You've got a whole bunch of things you're juggling,'' said Greg Nordholm, president of Etalco, a Seattle firm that specializes in moving dam gates, cranes and, in this case, a bridge's lift section.
``Everything must be ready within a one- to two-hour time frame. But we'll get it done.
``This,'' he added, ``should be fun.''
Tommy Felch, vice president of the main contractor, the Williams and Beasley Co., spent much of Wednesday sidelined after he twisted his ankle coming off a ladder. Despite his pain and the risks involved in moving 600 tons of steel through a narrow window, he was excited.
``The fun part is moving the span,'' he said. ``That's what I get off on.''
As if the task weren't herculean enough, there were the additional pressures:
If the lift section wasn't moved by 6 p.m., contractors faced $10,000-a-day fines.
And the Coast Guard was talking about 130 angry southbound boaters who had been prevented from using the Intracoastal Waterway for the past three days as the bridge work neared completion.
What worried contractors most, however, was that there was only 3 inches to maneuver between the lift section and the rest of the 67-year-old bridge.
``Tight as a bull's butt in fly time,'' one engineer put it.
Preparations for the section's removal had been under way for three days. But the real work began at 7 a.m. Wednesday.
Teams used huge hydraulic jacks to lift the section, which had been closed since May 1994. When they got the section up and secured, a barge was maneuvered under the span. By pumping water from the barge's ballast tanks, it was slowly raised to meet the bridge.
The work was tedious, but 4 1/2 hours later, the bridge's lift section rested firmly on the barge's steel girders.
At 2 p.m., contractors began using a series of winches to pull the lift and barge away from the rest of the bridge - chain link by chain link.
There was silence as everyone watched the span slowly move south, an inch at a time.
Pieces of the bridge's lift system had to be torched off as the lift was slowly pulled away.
Kirk Keller, the Jordan Bridge's mechanic for the past eight years, watched anxiously.
``I hope,'' he said, ``they don't tear anything else off.''
At one point, when an electric box was ripped away, David Dugan, one of the army of workers on the bridge, looked down at Keller and smiled wryly.
``I thought you were gonna cry,'' he said.
By 4 p.m., the span was free.
``Not a touch,'' said Nordholm. ``Not a touch.''
As the section and barge drifted away, workers on the bridge began singing the theme song to ``Gilligan's Island'' and lighting cigarettes.
It was the first time the lift section had been removed from the bridge since the oil tanker Rhode Island rammed it and knocked it into the river in 1939.
The repairs will take about a month. Work also will be done on the pair of pulleys at the top of the bridge and the bridge structure. All of the bridge's cables will also be replaced.
The repairs are expected to add five years to the life of the bridge, according to Chesapeake officials.
The Jordan Bridge, one of the oldest in the region, had been stuck in the open position since May 1994 after one of the four pulley mechanisms jammed. Rather than repair the bridge immediately, city officials closed the span indefinitely.
The breakdown caused headaches for nearby residents, who depend on the bridge to link Portsmouth and South Norfolk in Chesapeake.
Last year, Chesapeake voters approved a referendum to issue $76.9 million in bonds for road improvements. The package included about $2.4 million for repairs to the bridge, which was built in 1928.
Workers on Wednesday marveled over the craftsmanship of the bridge, where every rivet is almost perfectly aligned.
As the section floated away, Nordholm was busy picking up pieces of timber and disconnecting hydraulic lines for his next moving job in Montreal.
``We try to keep things as boring as possible,'' he said. ``When it gets exciting, it usually means there are big problems costing people big money.
``A nice cold beer sounds good right now,'' he said. ``But I've got to get cleaned up for a flight to the next job. There's no rest for the wicked.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color staff photos MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN/
Hydraulic jacks raised the lift section of the Jordan Bridge, and a
barge was maneuvered under it. Pumping water from ballast tanks
raised the barge to meet the section. Below, the section heads to
the shipyard in Portsmouth.
LAWRENCE JACKSON/
Staff file
The Jordan Bridge, built in 1928, was stuck open since May 1994
after one of four pulley mechanisms jammed. Rather than fix it
immediately, officials closed the span.
KEYWORDS: JORDAN BRIDGE < by CNB