Unbuilding the Grace and Pearman Bridges


For Sparky and myself, curiosity drives passion which in turn fuels our life's engine. Our passion was capturing the story of both unbuilding the Grace (1929 - 2007) and Pearman (1966 - 2007) Bridges and discovering the unbuilders. It takes a lot of passion to track a project from July 2005 until April 2007 - rain, shine, hurricanes or moving to Singapore. We discovered the joy of discovery learning. Ken Canty opened the front door for us - then Steve Testa, Ponch Billingsley and Mickey Rogers opened many side doors. Below are the highlights of what we discovered, who we met and what we learned.

And a reminder from T.S. Eliot (East Coker from the Four Quartets)

Home is where one starts from. As we grow older
The world becomes stranger, the pattern more complicated
Of dead and living. Not the intense moment
Isolated, with no before and after,
But a lifetime burning in every moment
And not the lifetime of one man only
But of old stones that cannot be deciphered.

December 19, 2006: Chris does the last of Grace

The worksite - the last triangle

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Now for the final stage - Nugget is chillin'

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while Robbie is the look-out

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and Stan works on the other side

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Nugget starts

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and Robbie is in the elevator

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and Carlos moves into position

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Robbie escapes from the elevator

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Carlos starts his cut

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Stan starts his cut

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Nugget completes the middle cut

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and the right side

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Stan just enjoying the day

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Robbie is cutting away

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Robbie completes his cut

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and now its showtime for Chris

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Up up and away. The question is can Chris duplicate Manny's playtex procedure - lift and separate?

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Hmm - obviously yes!

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a little more lift, separation and rotation

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more rotation

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and more rotation

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and now the downward trip

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down with a little more rotation

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and more rotation and down

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and down

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and down

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and aiming for Sparky

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while Paul directs the action

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and down

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with Nugget using Manny's elevator service

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A happy Nugget

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and a happy Robbie, Carlos, Manny and Stan

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

C. Frank Starmer

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