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.

October 20, 2005 The Pearman ramp: afternoon setup

Returning to the blast site, Town Creek is virtually clear. All that is left is a view of the Grace and Pearman skeletons

The Pearman cantilevered section and an clear Town Creek

Tonight these Pearman concrete girders will be removed (over Immigration Drive)

The crane fully withdrawn

Looking down Immigration Drive to the south - the Grace and Pearman skeletons

Meanwhile up on the Grace, Richie and Michael are finishing their shift. Today they have been cutting and removing concrete roadway segments

a nice sunset

And looking at the Grace and Pearman from Nassau St.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

C. Frank Starmer

_