1932,1986,2019 Arlington Memorial Bridge over Potomac River at Washington, DC

(Bridge Hunter; Historic Bridges; HAER; Satellite)

"Built 1932; rehabilitated 1986; bascule span demolished 2019." [BridgeHunter] Joseph Strauss designed the movable span. Sheet steel cladding was added to the sides of the trusses to help them blend in with the concrete arches. [HistoricBridges]

HAER DC,WASH,563--5
5. South elevation. - Arlington Memorial Bridge, Spanning Potomac River between Lincoln Memorial & Arlington National Cemetery, Washington, District of Columbia, DC

 

National Park Service

HAER DC,WASH,563--29 (CT)
29. Interior view of eastern lift span, looking south.

HAER DC,WASH,563--13
13. Interior view of eastern lift span, with decking above, looking back from center of span, toward lift mechanism area. 

HAER DC,WASH,563--16
16. Interior view of lift mechanism area of eastern lift span looking south, showing trunion gears at left and right, and counterweight above.

Jonathan Konopka posted
Learned something new today. I did not know that the Arlington Memorial Bridge had a central bascule span that lifted up and down! I was trying to find better pictures of the span open, but all I could find was the one. The bascule span last opened in 1961 and was replaced by a span that doesn’t move in 2018.
[It appears Johathan copied this photo from HistoricBridges.]

 

This is higher resolution and has more information about the photo.

Photo From 1939 Thesis By R. W. Carroll via BridgeHunter

F Delventhal Flickr, License: Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)

 

HAER-data, p120
Figure 4. Each leaf of the bascule span was assembled with rivets from components fabricated at Phoenix Bridge’s shop. The east leaf was erected first, and then raised to provide clearance for ships while the west leaf was being built. (NARA RG 42-AMB-1-30) 

 

Bridges Now and Then posted
"Washington, DC, circa 1930. "Construction of Memorial Bridge over Potomac River." (Acetate negative by Theodor Horydczak)

Historical Articles via HistoricBridges, p5

Historical Articles via HistoricBridges, p5

Street View, Oct 2018

Street View, Aug 2019

Street View, Oct 2019

Kiewit

asce
The steel-framed fascia of the bascule span was removed in four large sections to repair corrosion. (Photograph courtesy of AECOM) 

1896+1976 Birmingham+Brady Bridges over Monongahela River in Pittsburgh, PA

(Bridge Hunter; Historic Bridges; HAER; PGHbridges; B&T; 3D Satellite)

The main tied-arch span is 620'. You can barely see part of the J&L Hot Metal Bridge under the center of the deck.

Street View

This 1970 photo was taken before the LTV/Jones and Laughlin (J&L) mills on the south shore were torn down. This bridge was known as the 22nd Bridge or the Brady Bridge.

HAER PA,2-PITBU,31--3
3. Charles W. Shane, Photographer, April 1970. VIEW LOOKING FROM THE SOUTHWEST. - Brady Street Bridge, Spanning Monongahela River at South Twenty-second Street, Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, PA 
Bridges Now and Then posted

The total length of the bridge is quite long because it goes bluff-to-bluff over highways and railroads. Because of those bluffs, Pittsburgh can avoid building movable bridges.

Street View

River View, Jan 2021

Bridges Now and Then posted
January 27, 1974: Construction of the Birmingham Bridge had begun next to the Brady Street Bridge, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Post-Gazette)

As we have come to expect, it used to go over more railroads than it does now.

1969 Pittsburgh East Quad @ 1:24,000

I first noticed the tied-arch bridge in this image.

William McCloskey posted via Dennis DeBruler

 

Scanning those J&L notes, I found an overview of the 1896 bridge.

Dennis DeBruler, pre-1946

The description in BridgeHunter is a quote of the significance in the HAER: "The Brady Street Bridge, contracted by the Schultz Bridge & Iron Co. of Pittsburgh, was a steel-riveted, through-highway bridge. The structure consisted of a tied arch for the central span with a suspended deck, and two through-trusses for the side spans. The bridge was the second to be owned by the city and the first free bridge in Pittsburgh." [HAER-data, p2] I'm surprised there are no comments on BridgeHunter correcting this description. The new bridge is a tied-arch bridge. The bridge built by Schultz Bridge was "a continuous truss and thus unusual in its day."  [HAER-data, p24. Footnote 77 is referenced, which is: "On authority of George S. Richardson, the Pittsburgh bridge engineer."] Other sources have called the bridge a 3-hinged arch and a cantilever. But "the engineer, Marcel Fertig, examined the bridge for the State in the 1960's and found that the channel span was a continuous truss." [HAER-data, p28]

I emphasized that it was a continuous truss because both Bridge Hunter and the Significance description in the HAER have it wrong. But I also emphasized it because I recognized that it looked continuous even though it was obviously built a long time ago. I wonder if this is the oldest continuous truss bridge that I've seen. They were quite rare before computers were developed because the stress computations for the truss members is much more difficult than for multiple simple truss spans.

This bridge was built using what is now called Accelerated Bridge Construction. ("The main span was constructed on floats moored on the river bank and the superstructure was swung into position on 24 November."  [HAER-data, p27]) I wonder if this is the first example of using that technique with such a large span. 

The new bridge was built just downstream from the old bridge.

HAER PA,2-PITBU,31--18
18. View showing river piers from the northeast.

Note the piers for the new bridge in the above photo with no visible construction activity. That is because construction was halted for over a year because Pittsburgh did not want to pay its share for the large interchange in Soho. [HAER-data, p28] That interchange was probably a surprise expense because the 6-lane bridge was originally (1963) planned to be part of a new expressway that went between the north side of the Allegheny River and the south side of the Monongahela River. See PGHbridges for more information on the need for a convoluted interchange on the north side of this bridge. The change in plans from a crosstown beltway to a local bridge also explains why a 6-lane bridge ends at a stoplight interchange on the south side. I noticed that "bridge to nowhere" dynamic when I first looked at a satellite image.

B&E captured the northern interchange as well as the bridge itself.

1 of 4 photos posted by Bridges & Tunnels
The seemingly complicated northern terminus of the Birmingham Bridge only has connections to Fifth and Forbes Avenues, skipping any connection to Parkway East or to the Boulevard of the Allies.

The Birmingham Bridge has a complicated history in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Until 1896, the South Side of Pittsburgh had one fixed crossing to the central part of the city, a tolled covered bridge, which led to the opening of the Brady Street Bridge in 1896. It was notable for being the second river crossing owned by the city as well as the first toll-free river crossing in the area.

Because of heavy usage from trucks and trolleys, the Brady Street Bridge was showing its age by the 1960s. The crossing was closed to all traffic because of structural deficiencies in September 1968 and reopened after significant repairs in October 1969. It closed permanently on May 1, 1976, and was detonated into the Monongahela River at 8:42 PM on May 29, 1978.

Planning for a replacement for the deteriorating Brady Street Bridge began in the early 1960s Highway plans at that time showed a variety of proposed expressways and freeways crisscrossing the region, including the Oakland Expressway that would have connected PA Route 28 north of Herrs Island along the Allegheny River to new suburban routes along the Monongahela River further south.

Construction of the new bridge was set to begin in 1969 but the city's inaction on deciding on how to interchange the new crossing with local streets caused the project to be delayed by a decade. Just the new bridge's piers stood alongside the circa 1896 structure for years, a reminder that Pittsburgh had yet another "bridge to nowhere." Construction finally resumed in 1974 but work was delayed because of defective electro-slag welds that needed to be shored up with heavy steel plates.

Finally, the new Birmingham Bridge, named after Birmingham, England, opened in December 1977.

➤ Check out many more photos and a history of the Birmingham Bridge at http://bridgestunnels.com/location/birmingham-bridge/
Bridges & Tunnels shared

Sainte-Catherine Lock and 1957 Point Levant Bridge on the St. Lawrence Seaway

Lock: (Satellite)

Bridge: (Historic Bridges; 3D Satellite)

"Each lock is 233.5 metres long (766 feet), 24.4 metres wide (80 feet) and 9.1 metres deep (30 feet) over the sill. A lock fills with approximately 91 million litres of water (24 million gallons) in just 7 to 10 minutes. Getting through a lock takes about 45 minutes." [GreatLakes-Seaway]

Three construction photos and some aerials

Street View, Aug 2021

The bridge is a rolling bridge.

Street View, Oct 2020

The derrick must be where they store the stop logs when they are not needed.

Street View, Jul 2016

 

1 of 4 aerial photos in marinas

Street View, Jun 2019

That freighter must be rather short.

Street View, May 2015

Pinterest
Cote Ste Catherine Lock, Sainte-Catherine, QC, the second lock in the St.Lawrence

"The Chem Hydra got stuck shortly after 12:30 a.m. Friday near the Sainte-Catherine Lock on Montreal's South Shore. By 7 p.m., the tanker had been dislodged and moored, or parked, near the Lock." No one was injured. It was carrying chemicals, but nothing leaked. Its engine is said to have failed. [ctvnews] It is a double-hulled bulk carrier. [archyde]

Paul Ingram posted, May 27, 2022
Chem Hydra aground below Cote Ste Catherine Lock - traffic not allowed to pass

Richard Haydon posted three photos with the comment:

CHEM HYDRA wedged at Cote Ste. Catherine, QC 

Seaway lock #2.  (missed entering the lock) upbound

OCEAN Tugs working to free her now.

May 27, 2022    16:00 HRS         Heavy rain!

Kevin Williams: Looks like a fail so far or they haven’t tried yet. Everyone in same positions as of 5:30 pm.

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Janey Anderson: Which ocean tug? Great shot.
Richard Haydon: Janey Anderson Intrepid and Pierre Julien.

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Janey Anderson reposted Richard's comment and first photo.

Cindy Owen commented on Janey's repost
Chem Hydra looks like she's staying for a bit.

Viking Octantis (and Viking Polaris) Cruise Ships

I've come across several photos of the Viking Octantis because it is the largest cruise ship on the Great Lakes and attracts ship fans wherever it goes. I have seen enough photos that I'm promoting it to its own notes. Its popularity effectively makes this an index of the St. Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes.

Janey Anderson posted

May 1 - 7:30 am

VIKING OCTANTIS UPDATE

Heading up the Welland Canal.

Has arrived in Port Colborne!!

Amazing Photo Credit hot off the press:

Bill Jr Salton Lock 6 West (WC)

Martin Ridland: Anyone know the cause of the delay? I was watching on the marine radar app and it looked like a tug was sent to her around 01:30 in the morning.
Janey Anderson: Martin Ridland there is no schedule in the canal, as my Pilots always say. She'll take as long as she needs to in order to transit safely.

This is a good view of the reverse slant of the bow. Carl Burkett commented on his photo: "With her patented Ulstein inverted X-BOW, OCEAN EXPLORER will cleave the waves in such a way that internal noise and vibration is reduced and the hull's shape reduces slamming against the vessel with little spray on its deck." [Dennis DeBruler] Thus the comfort of the passengers is more important than efficiently cutting through the water. (Update: actually, the "backslash" bow is also more efficient. [ferussmit])

 

Tanya Ward commented on Janey's post

Tanya Ward commented on Janey's post
[According to some of the comments, this is Allanburg Bridge.]

1 of 10 photos posted by Bobby Dzz
[Passing over the East Main Street Tunnel.]

Randi Klein commented on Bobby's post
We were onboard Viking Octantis NY to Toronto, so thanks for all the photos! The Captain and pilots masterfully sailed us thru all those narrow locks .
[The above screenshots of the ship going through a lock was of Lock 8, which is a guard lock and it has a low lift because its purpose is to accommodate fluctuations of the height of Lake Erie. This photo shows that the more normal lift lock would scrape a different part of the ship and it is an even tighter fit.]

Jim Hutchinson commented on Bobby's post, cropped
Here is the girl heading out of Port Colborne as I was walking into Northland Point Senior Home to see my Dad.

Another photo from Bobby Dzz's post of 10 photos
Brian Lüders: Lots of scrapes and scratches
[Note the thruster icons near the water level. It evidently has three bow thrusters. Given the short, straight guide wall on the river side of the lock, I think it is coming out of the upbound Lock 6.]

May 13, 2022: Kathie Timpano posted
Here we have the stunning Viking Octantis making her return trip northbound thru the Welland Canal at Bridge 11. So happy I was able to see her in person this afternoon.

Sandi York posted
Today [May 26, 2022] the Viking Octantis cleared the locks on her way to Lake Superior.
[There were quite a few photos of its maiden voyage up the St. Marrys River. I chose this shot because of the railroad bridge in the background and a good view of its "backslash bow."]

This ship was designed and built to be as big as possible but still fit in the locks of the St. Lawrence Seaway. It is a tight fit and I read that it was scratched by the time it arrived at the Eisenhower Lock. It looks like the design includes some sacrificial scratch rails. Note the scratches on the bottom rail in this screenshot.

4:24 video @ 0:33
Viking Octantis, tight fit going into lock 8 Pt. Colbourne.

Are some of the scratches from tugs?

4:24 video @ 1:12

I doubt that a tug is creating these long, skinny scratches. This view reminds me that the bow of a tug has a lot of padding.

4:24 video @ 1:24

Some of the scratches are below that rail.

4:24 video @ 1:56

I wonder how small the gap is on the other side when this gap got bigger. Since this is near the stern, I'm guessing the gap is bigger because the ship is getting a little narrower.

4:24 video @ 2:20

I wondered if a ship designed for the Seaway would have thruster. This symbol indicates that it has a stern thruster as well as a bow thruster. In fact, I think the propwash we see in this segment is from the truster.

4:24 video @ 2:37

1 of 3 photos posted by Lincat Photography
I caught the Viking Octantis in the Detroit river earlier in the week and got some nice shots of her as she docked with the Gordie Howe bridge in the background.
Mike Mishler shared

Brad Wood Photography posted
"In with the new and out with the old". This morning, one of the oldest ships, the S.T. Crapo, came into Port Colborne, Ontario, Canada, to rest and end its 95-year journey. As it approached, from out of the dark, came the Great Lakes newest and largest cruise ship, the Viking Octantis. It swiftly sailed past the, once steam powered, S.T. Crapo and dropped off a group of modern explorers from, around the world, to discover Niagara. Times are certainly changing, and we seem to be in a rush to try and keep up! Imagine what the next 100 years will bring, and what it will leave behind!!!
Brad Wood Photography also posted

25 photos of it visiting Port of Thunder Bay

Update: In 2023, I have been seeing photos of a sister ship: Viking Polaris.

First of 10 photos posted by Tom Barker
Viking Polaris 1000islands

And the Octantis is back for the 2023 season:

Alec Jacobson posted
Viking Octantis backing into Port Milwaukee on May 4, 2023.
Roger LeLievre shared
Timothy Johnson: I just wish the dock where they come in wasn't so run down and industrial.
[It is going under the Hoan Bridge.]

Clark Bloswick posted, cropped
Viking Octantis and Viking Polaris at Mackinac today.
Larry Burke: The Island has enough visitors and vacationers as it was now with the Cruise Ships it will further erode serenity and beautiful peacefulness of this gorgeous island. It’s nice to have the business and money but what you lose is it worth it?
Keith Stokes: Larry Burke Many more people come every hour on the ferries. Not much impact beyond looking good across the water. Grand Hotel alone holds more people than the two ships combined.

Amy Daggett posted
Viking Octantis up in lock 1 in the Welland canal. Look at all those people - 7.21.23

Jennifer Selinger commented on Amy's post
Watched it go through lock 3 last night!

Alain M. Gindroz commented on Amy's post
I met her above Lock 7.

I Love Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan posted three photos with the comment:

We LOVE our cruise ships and our tour boats!!!

Tuesday morning July 2, 2024.....Pearl Mist in the MacArthur Lock and the Viking Octantis in the Poe Lock.   And three different tour boats in front of the Pear Mist.  

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The Viking Octantis is 672'7" long and 77'1" wide.

Pearl Mist 325'2" long and 52’ wide.

Jim Lehocky shared

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