US-181 1926+1959+202? Harbor Bridges and crane accident in Corpus Christi, TX

1926: (Archived Bridge Hunter)

1959: (Archived Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite)

202?: (Archived Bridge Hunter)

(Update: RoadTraffic-Technology article)

 

Travis Witt, CC BY-SA via Wikimedia

3D Satellite

Before 1959:

Bridges Now and Then posted
"A photographer stood on the Harbor Bridge, still under construction in March 1959, to shoot images of a ship passing through the bascule bridge in Corpus Christi (Texas)." (Caller-Times)

Bridges Now and Then commented on their post
Another view, for reference.
[This confirms that it was a trunnion bridge.]

Ted Knutsen posted

The country is loosing another truss arch bridge to a cable stay bridge.

HarborBridgeProject-facts

HarborBridgeProject-facts

I find the claim of 170 years instead of 150 years to be interesting. It implies a level of accuracy that I seriously doubt. One of the reasons why they are adding a bike and pedestrian path to the new bridge instead of usinv the old bridge for that is because the clearance of the old bridge is only 138'. [HarborBridgeProject-overview] The clearance of the new bridge will be 205'. [Wikipedia]

Chuck Ellis posted two photos [Dec 2019].

Bridge job in Corpus.
David Mehaffey I was working with a company in el paso running a 150 linkbelt 2 craning bridge beams with a 300 ton. He shoved the load to me because he refused to boom up when he swung. He pushed me 12,000 lbs out of chart and smoked the boom with the beam. The guy did it twice.

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When I did a google search to learn about the new bridge, there were some videos offered about the wreck. After I determined that no one was injured, I quit looking at them because I'm sure the only crane related information offered is that "it is under investigation." Of more interest were the links indicating that designing the bridge was halted in Nov, 2019. The replacement bridge is being designed by FIGG. I recognize FIGG because they designed the replacement for the Waldo-Hancock Suspension Bridge and, more significantly, they designed the FIU bridge that collapsed a few days after it was moved into position and killed six people. TxDOT suspended the design work while they reviewed the NTSB report. The root cause of the FIU failure was a design error by FIGG. (As I discuss in the above referenced notes, other errors contributed to the deaths such as a rubber stamp review and making an unreviewed repair over live traffic. Four or five agencies had responsibility for safety and had the authority to stop traffic under the bridge. But all of them chose to ignore that the growing cracks in the bridge were an indication of a fundamental design error.) Ground was broken on the $930m project in Aug, 2016. TxDOT is admitting the project, which includes over six miles of new road as well as the bridge, is already two years behind schedule. [Caller, pay count of five. This article has 107 photos of the bridge construction.] "FIGG's Texas bridge projects include the Houston Ship Channel Bridge and the Veterans Memorial Bridge in Port Arthur, Texas." [ConstructionDive]

Flatiron/Dragados, the project contractor

ccbiznews
This simple drawing shows the size difference between the old Harbor Bridge and the new one under construction in Corpus Christi. Courtesy photo
[As of June 12, 2020, it was two years behind and completion is still "a few more years away." They still had not selected a new engineer of record after firing FIGG in January 2020. Fortunately, within a couple of months they had selected Arup-CFC. "Once completed, the Harbor Bridge will be the largest cable-stay bridge in the nation." [ccbiznews-July]]

Summer 2023 update: solutions have been designed for the five problems that were identified. And then they had the sixth problem of a crane catching on fire.

9:26 video @ 5:19

9:21 video, Dec 2023, 2023, construction of New Harbor Bridge has resumed

Apr 14, 2024: Jon Runnells posted two photos with the comment: "New 181 Corpus Christi Ship channel bridge. Gonna be really impressive!"

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Jon commented on his post

Jon commented on his post
North approach to new 181 channel bridge. Existing 181 bridge to the left...

2023:

1:00:03 video @ 32:06