August 9, 2005: Unbuilding a bridge - one bite at a time - about 7am
There was just a moment of morning sun before the thundershower - but enough
time to catch the first moments of work this morning. These huge
bridge eaters (for lack of a better word) have rather large jaws and
take small bites of the beams as shown here. The bridge floor is constructed
of box girders as can be seen as long boxes.
It turns out that what I called
a bridge eater are technically mobile shears manufactured by
Stanley LaBounty in
Two Harbors, MN. As a sneak preview, Stanley LaBounty has provided
a 38,000 pound grapple to remove steel portions of the bridge from the
river - which we shall see in action over the next couple of months.
Simultaneously the waterman on the right is flooding the bridge with water
And the work goes on - one bite at a time
Back around 5pm - what a difference 10 hours makes;
Taking a bite over Meeting Street
This used to be the beginning of the Pearman on ramp
Well, this is what was the Pearman approach
Straight out of Star Wars - the fight among mobile shearers
