[HN Gopher] Watch a highway bridge be replaced in under three da...
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       Watch a highway bridge be replaced in under three days, live
        
       Author : gumby
       Score  : 49 points
       Date   : 2022-04-22 13:35 UTC (9 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (verandaplan.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (verandaplan.org)
        
       | bombcar wrote:
       | The "build it nearby and move it into position" has become all
       | the rage lately, it's been proven multiple times and has
       | advantages, even with longer spans like the St Croix Crossing.
       | 
       | Another one in China: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKi8VWRDA_c
        
       | throwaway0a5e wrote:
       | As a Masshole I cringe at all the opportunities for make-work
       | handouts and "not quite graft" this kind of efficiency forgoes.
       | Those backwards hicks up there would be so much better off if
       | they did things our way. We really know how to run a state. They
       | need to think bigger. That simple bridge replacement, it should
       | take a year. It should tie up hundreds and hundreds of orange
       | barrels. There will need to be rental equipment parked on site
       | for at least six months. If the local communities are rich, you
       | gotta make sure they tie you up in court over the minutia so you
       | can spend thousands on politically connected law firms. Triple
       | the timeline if you're within 5mi of a wetland. Etc. etc.
       | 
       | (sarcasm should be obvious)
        
         | navbaker wrote:
         | I lived on Oahu for several years and am still blown away by
         | the time and cost expenditures for the monorail system that
         | will (in 2031) connect the west side of the island with the
         | mall in Honolulu. Construction started in 2011 and the first
         | phase, which only goes about half of the total distance, won't
         | open until late this year!
        
       | mrguyorama wrote:
       | This is literally within walking distance of me and I have a
       | friend who is working on this project.
       | 
       | Sure the actual replacement only takes 3 days, but it's been
       | worked towards with construction on the area and the roads
       | underneath for something like a year. It's a very affluent area,
       | and an absolutely vital corridor into and out of the city for
       | employees, because affording living close to the city is
       | laughably difficult.
       | 
       | The common joke here in Maine is that there are two seasons:
       | Winter, and construction.
        
         | barbazoo wrote:
         | What was wrong with the old bridge? Not that I know anything
         | about bridges but it looks newish.
        
           | bombcar wrote:
           | Look at the abutments on the west camera - the new bridge is
           | obviously wider.
           | 
           | I suspect they're adding a lane in each direction.
           | 
           | Ah I was wrong (or not completely right, the new bridge is
           | wider but adds shoulders):
           | 
           | > Problem: The Veranda Street Bridge carries Interstate 295
           | (I-295) over Veranda Street (U.S. Route 1) in Portland,
           | Maine. The existing bridge was built in 1961 and, after 60
           | years of heavy use, its condition has deteriorated. A 2017
           | inspection of the bridge determined it's in satisfactory to
           | poor condition and is structurally deficient.
           | 
           | https://verandaplan.org/project
        
           | [deleted]
        
           | mrguyorama wrote:
           | Same problem with nearly every bridge in the US: It's really
           | old and past its design life and should have been replaced
           | ten years ago.
        
             | [deleted]
        
         | seizethegdgap wrote:
         | That is a very common joke in Wisconsin as well, which leads me
         | to believe anywhere north of the 37th parallel has the same
         | joke.
        
       | mrosett wrote:
       | Salt Lake just did this for one of the bridges across I-80.
       | Amazingly the actual swap took less than 24 hours.
        
       | Maximus9000 wrote:
       | Here is a similar project with a time lapse video in Ottawa,
       | Canada
       | 
       | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDcMMPuk3Dw
        
         | bombcar wrote:
         | Pretty ingenious to shove dirt under the old bridge to make
         | demolition easier.
        
       | shortstuffsushi wrote:
       | It feels like this should be titled something more to the effect
       | of, "watch a bridge section be constructed on site and then
       | installed over the span of a year." Noting it as "replaced in
       | three days" feels wildly inaccurate.
        
         | rich_sasha wrote:
         | Time on site seems like a massively critical time variable,
         | especially with infrastructure people want to use, e.g. a
         | road/highway. Time off site is presumably much cheaper,
         | certainly less disruptive.
         | 
         | The title feels informative to me.
        
           | shortstuffsushi wrote:
           | I'm not sure what you mean about time on site, could you
           | explain? They've been building this section of bridge "on
           | site" by my understanding of the phrase, and have had the
           | road way under the bridge diverted by construction for the
           | past year. It appears to have been permanently redirected
           | now. I assume during some of the work to the existing bridge,
           | they've had traffic slowed, diverted, barreled, etc. Actual
           | moving of old section out and new section into place in three
           | days seems to pretend this was a speedy project with only
           | minor disruption to local traffic, which doesn't seem quite
           | right to me. I guess if the thought is just that that highway
           | connected to the bridge is only (fully) closed for three
           | days, that's certainly worth something over having it closed
           | for the year it took to do the project.
        
             | bombcar wrote:
             | According to the FAQ https://verandaplan.org/faq the road
             | under the bridge is closed for 7 days (already closed) and
             | the highway is closed for 3.
             | 
             | All in all that's a pretty low amount of time; often these
             | are done by closing the road under for an unspecified
             | amount of time, diverting all traffic onto one bridge span
             | (reduce to one lane in each direction) and replacing the
             | bridge a half at a time.
        
             | rich_sasha wrote:
             | I misunderstood; you're right, but as sibling comment says,
             | short time to close down the affected roads completely
             | matters.
        
               | ozim wrote:
               | So Usain Bolt can win gold medal in Olympics under 10
               | seconds totally disregarding all training he spent time
               | on.
               | 
               | So all that matters is people watching it on TV?
               | 
               | I disagree much, because building site was there for
               | months and road below was hindered all the time. Highway
               | was maybe operating without closing lanes but that is not
               | the full story there.
        
       | pwr-electronics wrote:
       | Riveting
        
         | exabrial wrote:
         | just beam-ing with excitement
        
         | anonu wrote:
         | Was expecting a time lapse. Not a live view.
        
           | daveaiello wrote:
           | There is a time lapse, but it's a link on the landing page.
        
         | ryannevius wrote:
         | Welded to my seat.
        
       | titzer wrote:
       | It's incredible the money and logistical thinking devoted to
       | highway construction and maintenance compared to almost any other
       | kind of infrastructure in America. Like, imagine they decided
       | trains were as high a priority.
        
         | blamazon wrote:
         | They did, it's just privately owned, maintained, and operated
         | by freight companies. [1]
         | 
         | [1] https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-North-American-
         | Rail-...
        
           | titzer wrote:
           | The rail networks in the US are actually dwindling [1], from
           | a peak of ~250,000 route miles in the 1920s to less than
           | 100,000 today. The USDOT maintains over 4 million miles of
           | highway.
           | 
           | [1] https://www.railserve.com/stats_records/railroad_route_mi
           | les...
        
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       (page generated 2022-04-22 23:01 UTC)