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.

March 31, 2006:
Regrouping

Guess what? There are two Sparkys - and Sparky 1 and introduced Sparky 2 to the joys of unbuilding. Today there are lots of things going on: the broken leg of the jackup barge has healed (I would like our orthopedic surgeons to note the strategy), recycling continues at the Navy yard and preparations for this week's blast are well under way.

Here is Sparky and Sparky 2

Remember way back when the last concrete section of the Grace on ramp in Mt Pleasant was removed about 2am (Richie, Jackie, Steve, Roy and myself) - now the girder understructure is gone. Soon Grace will be supportless

Back at the Port, look at the progress that Michael has made with his 1250 and unbuilding P-3. Hopefully a weekend at home with Tina and the kids will have recharged him.

Here is the John Henry - ready for drilling some more hole for Mickey's team. I'm not sure where the drilling will take place, but I'll ask

And at Drum Island - more transplant material for artifical reefs

Pat, as usual, is driving the Capt. Gary around - fetching and toting barges and material - with tea and his GPS

And a nice view of Sparky 2

Back at the Navy yard - chewing up Pearman and Grace parts continues

More for the recycling bin - for Nucor?

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C. Frank Starmer

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