November 2, 2005:
Removing girders over East Bay St.
Here is the setup - seen from the Ravenel Bicycle lane. On
East Bay is the Grove 7550 crane and two man baskets. Above
is a shear (and unseen behind the sheer is a grapple). The
removal process is to
- Wrap the sling cables around the girder and attach to
the horizontal iron beam held by the 7550.
- Lift the assembly until the slings are tight
- Use the shear to decouple the girder from the pier cap
- Lift the girder, rotate it and lower it to the Pearman
ramp roadway
- Using the shear, cut the girder into 3 segments
- With the grapple, remove each segment from the working area
The night crew symphony conductor is Neil Myers (who was working this morning
at 4am when I watched the cleanup after removing a section of
Pearman roadway).
Iron workers are lifted to the girder where they attach the
sling cables for lifting
After the cables are attached, Jack Foley uses his shear to
disconnect the girder from the pier cap
a closer view
When freed, the girder is lifted by the 7550
clearing the roadway
rotated to the left
and lowered to the ramp surface
After the cables have been released, the 7550 rotates back
to the right and the next girder is prepared
From a different position - you can see Jack's shear in place and
the girder is about ready to be lifted
now the girder has cleared the pier attach point and will be rotated to
rest on the roadway for post-processing (cutting it into 3 segments)
The girder is now positioned over the Pearman roadway and being lowered
so that it can be sut into 3 segments
Now from the Pearman ramp - here is one of the shackles used to hold
the cables wrapping the girder
and here, the 7550 has raised the pull bar so that Jack can eat
away at its attachment to the pier cap
Here is Jack driving his shear and setting up to decouple the girder
Setting up for the first bite (Note the shaft position that controls the
shear blade opening)
then biting a bit deeper - (note the shaft position - with the
shear in its open configuration
and the final bite (note the shaft position that closes the shear)
Stabilizing the girder while it is being nudged out of its 40 year home.
Lifiting the girder
Guiding the girder to rest on the wood block (lower right).
Here is Roy under Jack's the light of shear - slightly blurred
because a 2 sec photo exposure is a bit long for Roy to stand still..
The last time I saw him was
Saturday morning - he was running the hammer on the Pearman ramp
(Mt Pleasant side). Without x-ray vision, it was impossible to
catch his smile - but tonight, even blurred, you can see his smile.
Jack uses his shear to take
a half-bite on the right and preparing for a half-bite on the left.
Here he is preparing for the last bite on the right.
Here Jack is taking the last bite of girder - which now is in 3 pieces
He first picks up the girder segment and rotates it for Roy
as seen here - so Roy can grab it
Roy grabs the girder fragment and Jack lets go
Roy uses his grapple to remove the girder fragment while Jack moves
back for dislocating the next girder
The Ravenel Bridge takes on a different personality when viewed from
the demolition site -
The Ravenel Bridge during a Pearman shock wave - i.e. Jack and
Roy are working.
and so its time to leave the worksite with a last look at the Ravenel
Bridge
Good night.