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 28, 2006:
Unbuilding and Repairs

Lots going on today - Scott and his team of ironworkers are busy on the Mt. Pleasant side of the Grace - removing more of Pio's legacy.

The worksite from above

Panorama of the Mt. Pleasant worksite

Pio's legacy - slowly disappearing

Meanwhile back at Town Creek, Michael's hammer is ill - so off to the Navy yard for a bit of rehabilitation

A close view of Pain-in-the-Neck - each day, a bit less painful

and on the dock - work continues on the jackup barge leg - the worksite

The spliced section

A view of the splice and the pinion ready to be welded into place

a bit of grinding - with fireworks

and a fan to keep the air flowing through the tube - a service to the inside men in the skunk works

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

C. Frank Starmer

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