These are notes that I am writing to help me learn our industrial history. They are my best understanding, but that does not mean they are a correct understanding.
Thursday, February 6, 2020
I-294 Mile Long Bridge Rebuild in Hodgkins+Julstice, IL
I've been thinking of going there to try to get video of a beam lift. But I've been hesitant because I'm not confidant that I can find a legal parking spot in the area and because it is winter.
It looks like I have already missed the placement of several of the new beams. Perhaps paying attention to these webcams would be better than driving there anyhow.
I missed a Facebook post several weeks ago about the beams being transported, but the Chicago Tribune has an article on it.
Chicago Tribune, Feb 10, 2020, Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune
By Mary Wisniewski, the Getting Around columnist
They are concrete beams, each measuring as much as 7½ feet tall, 187 feet long, and weighing 245,000 pounds, traveling south from a factory in Janesville, Wisconsin.
The beams are the heaviest ever produced or shipped in the Midwest, according to Gary Courneya, operations manager for County Materials Corp. in Janesville. Currently, the longest concrete beams on the Tollway are 170 feet long, installed at the Fox River Bridge on the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway (Interstate 90) and at the Des Plaines River Valley Bridge on the Veterans Memorial Tollway (Interstate 355).
The existing Mile Long Bridge, built in 1958, is a mix of concrete and steel beams. The rebuilt bridge will also have a mix, with 600 beams altogether, Kovacs said. The Mile Long Bridge is actually two bridges, going in each direction, and each will have 27 spans and 26 piers or support columns each way. The current bridge has 53 piers each way, so the number of piers has been cut in half, explained Kovacs....Transport trucks hauling the beams will be traveling this month between 4:30 a.m. and noon on weekdays, with all delivery schedules weather dependent. [Paul Kovacs is the chief engineering officer for the Tollway.]
The beams are going eastbound and down the Jane Addams (I-90) to I-290, then south to I-355, Interstate 80 and Interstate 57 before heading north on I-294. The trucks with the beams will be parked along I-294 near the 83rd Street Toll Plaza during the day, and the beams will be installed on new bridge piers constructed over the Des Plaines River during the overnight hours, according to Tollway officials.
Once the beam installation scheduled for February is complete, the Tollway will start taking delivery of steel beams for placement over Forest Preserve property and the Chicago Sanitary & Ship Canal. About 110 steel beams from an Indiana manufacturing plant will be delivered, each measuring 120 inches tall and ranging in length from 57 feet to 134 feet long, the Tollway said.
Chicago Tribune, Feb 10, 2020
[I recognize MiJack as the equipment used in many intermodal yards to load and unload containers.]
Nic Tarasewicz posted two photos with the comment: "MLC300 one of the many cranes on the mile long bridge project on I294."
It looks like they are working on the second half.
The Walsh Group posted Crews have started to place steel beams across the Des Plaines River for the I-294 Mile Long Bridge. [I wonder how they got the beams across for the first half. Did they use a crane on a barge?]
Actually, this project is up by the other mile-long bridge on I-294.
ALL Erection and Crane Rental posted four photos with the comment: "Central Contractors Service, a member of the ALL Family of Companies recently provided a stunning mix of both all-terrain and crawler cranes for an Illinois Tollway project. Check out the full article and list of cranes on our website here https://www.allcrane.com/resources/case-study/article/bridge-mix."
Excellent blog.
ReplyDeleteBuilding Contractors in Chennai