Changing the face of Charleston : The unbuilding of the Grace and Pearman Bridges
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Unbuilding Highlights
(Apr 10)
Meeting St. Stories
(Jul 10 2006)
East Bay Stories
(Oct 10 2006)
Drum Island Stories
(Feb 17)
Pearman Bridge Stories
(Apr 3)
Grace Bridge Stories
(Apr 3)
Imposions: Prep and boom
(Mar 27)
Unbuilding Bridge Blog
(July 23 2006)
Unbuilding Challenges
(Mar 13)
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(Feb 20)
Unbuilding Stories
(Mar 13)
Video and Sounds
(Feb 28)

February 24, 2007: Drilling the last Grace pier

The end is near. Michael Hebb is hollowed the inner core of the last Grace pier. Ken and Mickey have marked the drilling spots and today - our quartet of Carlos and Robbie on the top man lift with Michael and Ben (who looks just like his brother Stan) on the lower man lift. Actually this is a quintet for 4 drillers and the moon - which you will see from time to time below.

THe worksite - with Carlos and Robbie in the man lift and Manny's crane to the right

feb_24_sparky_073_worksite.jpg

But first - on Wednesday, Mickey will implode the T-2 substructure - here already drilled and ready for loading: looking south

feb_24_sparky_081_t2_drilled.jpg

and looking north

feb_24_sparky_086_t2_north.jpg

Another view of the worksite

feb_24_sparky_008_worksite.jpg

The barge setup with the man lift

feb_24_sparky_083_barge_setup.jpg

Here an almost-X marks the spot - Carlos and Robbie above and Michael and Ben below

feb_24_sparky_007_x_marks_spot.jpg

and Michael and Ben below

feb_24_sparky_011_michael_stan.jpg

Carlos - the flag planter on the Grace mainspan (last March 1) giving Sparky the ok.

feb_24_sparky_013_carlos.jpg

Robbie drilling with the pneumatic drill. How does Robbie know where to drill?

feb_24_sparky_018_robbie_drilling.jpg

Ken and Mickey have diagrammed the drilling pattern

feb_24_sparky_088_drill_marks.jpg

as seen here

feb_24_sparky_096_drill_marks.jpg

Robbie letting the drill do the work while Carlos just chills a bit

feb_24_sparky_028_drilling.jpg

While below, Ben is drilling while Michael does his thing

feb_24_sparky_034_stan_drilling.jpg

The gentle force of the man basket keeping the pressure on the drill as it penetrates the concrete

feb_24_sparky_036_drilling.jpg

With the moon looking on - sort of as a supervisor

feb_24_sparky_069_moon_carlos_robbie.jpg

Some Sparky art work - the Ravenel between two piling supports

feb_24_sparky_107_ravenel.jpg

Robbie doing some serious drilling

feb_24_sparky_113_robbie_drilling.jpg

Then Carlos removes the bit and

feb_24_sparky_118_extension.jpg

and removes the extension

feb_24_sparky_120_bit.jpg

inserts it for starting a new hole

feb_24_sparky_122_bit.jpg

carefully

feb_24_sparky_123_bit_insert.jpg

Inserting and locking the bit

feb_24_sparky_125_bit_lock.jpg

and positioning the man basket

feb_24_sparky_127_position.jpg

and starts drilling

feb_24_sparky_128_drilling.jpg

with the moon to the right

feb_24_sparky_130_drilling_moon.jpg

Another good view of the worksite

feb_24_sparky_139_worksite.jpg

Michael and Ben - going up

feb_24_sparky_140_michael_stan.jpg

until they are in position

feb_24_sparky_152_quartet.jpg

What a picture - Carlos and Ben above the moon while Michael and Ben are below the moon

feb_24_sparky_154_moon_quartet.jpg

With a flag flying from Manny's crane

feb_24_sparky_165_quartet_flag.jpg

Ben drilling

feb_24_sparky_170_stan.jpg

Our quartet

feb_24_sparky_181_quartet.jpg

With the moon

feb_24_sparky_186_crop_quartet_moon.jpg

and Sparky on the way home

feb_24_sparky_205_driving_home.jpg

See ya'll Wednesday

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Attribution: C. Frank Starmer and Sparky Witte from http://oldcooperriverbridge.org