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.

February 28, 2007: Preparing the T-2 foundation for Shelly

The worksite

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The T-2 base

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Preparing for debris containment - here a rubber tire blanket

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Placing the blanket

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A bit of encouragement - with Mickey keeping a careful watch

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and a bit of CAT-like encouragement

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Placing another blanket

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Steel blankets for the top

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With Manny doing the fetch and tote

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Placing another blanket

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Manny and the encourager

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Placing it carefully

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Under Manny's watchful eyes

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Robbie and Mickey - Did anyone ever wonder if Mickey loves explosives?

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Blankets in place

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Now to position an empty container to constrain the lateral blast

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Lifting it

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and clearing beneath

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More cleanup

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and replacing the container barrier

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Then back filling

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more back fill

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and in rolls Dyno Nobel - the Fed Ex of the explosive's world

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The blast site

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from a different perspective

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With cousin Arthur watching

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The Hollywood of the explosives world

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A last look at the blast stie

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And the transmitter with Shelly in the ready position (almost)

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

C. Frank Starmer

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