Monday, November 11, 2024

1912+2024 Madawaska-Edmundston International Bridges over St. John River

1912: (Broken Archived Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite)

Street View, Jun 2019

I'm saving a satellite image because the old bridge has been removed. 
Satellite

MDOT_gallery_9, cropped

They first built a temporary bridge. This view of the construction also provides a view of the old bridge.
MDOT_gallery_24, Provided by Steven Deschaine

Obviously, the new bridge is a steel-girder bridge.
mdot_gallery_103

It looks like they did tandem lifts of the girders to build the spans. Actually, after looking closer, it looks like the far crane is holding most of the weight. The near crane must just be stabilizing the girder.
gnb

Five photos from the reed-reed gallery, 3 of constructing the new bridge and 2 of deconstructing the old bridge.
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Today (Nov 11, 2024), I learned of two truss bridges because they had been destroyed. The other one was Four Bears Bridge.

MaineDOT posted three photos with the comment: "Demolition of the old Madawaska-Edmundston International Bridge is nearing completion as Demolition Plus has successfully removed the last pier on the U.S. side. Meanwhile, Reed & Reed is actively dismantling the temporary mid-river trestle, one of the final steps in the demolition process. Check out these pictures of the work being done."
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1934,1955+2005 Four Bears Bridges over Lake Sakakawea on Missouri River near New Town, ND

(no Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; John A. Weeks III; Satellite)

The continuous truss for this bridge was first built in 1934 40 miles down river of New Town at the City of Elbowood. When the Garrison Dam was built in 1955, the big truss was floated up the river to be used in this bridge. [JohnWeeks]

GhostsOfNorthDakota_bridge, this webpage contains several photos showing the construction of the piers.

NDtourism
"Design honors 19 tribal chiefs of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Indian tribes. It is the longest bridge in North Dakota, spanning nearly 1 mile."
 
New Town was built to provide new homes for the people that were displaced by the creation of Lake Sakakawea, which was created by the Garrison Dam.

This photo includes the construction of the replacement bridge.
GhostsOfNorthDakota_sanish
 
JohnWeeks
"The bridge was to be a precast segmented concrete box girder that was held together by post-tensioned cables that run though the bridge structure. The bridge required 482 of these precast segments, to be used to build 13 spans of 316 feet each, and 2 spans of 196 feet each, for an overall bridge length of 4,500 feet. The piers are interesting on the new bridge. Ice is a big factor, and some extreme forces could potentially hit the bridge if the ice on the lake goes out during high water in the spring. To protect against these forces, cone-shaped concrete piers 39 feet in diameter were built. The side walls of the cones are set at 65-degrees, which will deflect ice upwards, reducing the stress on the piers. The piers are each supported by 13 or 14 pilings driving into the riverbed between 90 and 160 feet. The piers range from 45 feet to 73 feet, and the bridge ranges in thickness from 8 feet to 17 feet, placing the roadway as high as 90 feet above the water."

So did these display remnants come from a deck truss or from the big continuous truss?
Street View, Nov 2021

'Today (Nov 11, 2024), I learned about two truss bridges because they had been destroyed. The other one was the Madawaska-Edmundston International Bridge.

Carl Bolander & Sons posted seven photos with the comment:
🟢 Four Bears Bridge Project - Part 1 
In 2005, Bolander was contracted to demolish and remove the Four Bears Bridge over the Missouri River near New Town, North Dakota. This included the existing 4,300 foot long steel box truss bridge and the concrete pier foundations. 
Key project highlights include:
🟢 Environmental Safety: Before demolition, our team meticulously inspected the structural steel for loose lead paint, ensuring safe removal and disposal in compliance with environmental regulations.
🟢 Efficient Demolition: The concrete bridge deck was effectively dismantled using hydraulic breakers, with the rubble carefully loaded onto material barges for transport to a concrete recycling facility.
🟢 Innovative Techniques: We employed pre-torching and blasting methods for the structural steel truss members, allowing for efficient removal and recycling. The steel sections were expertly retrieved from the riverbed using cranes and a five-point grapple system.
🟢 Precision in Pier Demolition: Our team utilized excavators and drilled holes in the concrete piers to place explosives, bringing them down to the necessary elevation while minimizing environmental impact.
🟢 Habitat Restoration: Using sonar technology, we precisely placed concrete rubble from the demolition on the riverbed, transforming it into a new fish habitat.
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Sunday, November 10, 2024

1926,2000 US-26 Ross Island Bridge over Willamette River in Portland, OR

(Archived Bridge Hunter; Historic Bridges; HAERSatellite, 150 photos)

Boat View, May 2017

HAER OR-102-16 (CT)16. General perspective of Ross Island Bridge, looking northeast across the Willamette River. - Ross Island Bridge, Spanning Willamette River at Powell Boulevard, Portland, Multnomah County, OR
Significance: The Ross Island Bridge is one in an ensemble of twelve monumental highway bridges across the lower Willamette River. It is one of five Portland spans (with Burnside, Sellwood, Lovejoy Viaduct, and the Broadway Bridge) associated with Gustav Lindenthal during the period 1924-1928. The Portland bridges were the last of this master engineer's career, with Ross Island a rare example of a Lindenthal highway-only deck truss. In Oregon, Ross Island is also: 1) one of 215 known highway truss bridges of any type or age surviving; 2) one of seven known cantilever highway trusses; 3) the only known cantilever highway deck truss, made further unique among cantilever trusses because it was designed without a suspended center span, thereby incorrectly appearing to be an arch bridge. Ross Island is also significant because of its unusually finely subdivided Warren truss side spans. Created almost exclusively for motor vehicles, Ross Island was the first fixed-span ( designed not to raise for river traffic) Willamette River bridge in downtown Portland, and was the first river bridge in the central city's history to be designed without trolley tracks. [HAER_data, written 2001]
HistoricBridges
This 3,653' (1113m) long bridge has a main span of 535' (163m).

Photo taken by Michael Goff on July 6, 2008 via BridgeHunter

Steve Smith, Feb 2022

Bridges Now and Then posted
A look at Portland, Oregon's Ross Island Bridge from yesterday [Oct 2024], sent in by our friend Justin McDonald. thanks, Justin!

1947 US-2 Cut River Bridge near Brevort, MI

(Broken Archived Bridge Hunter; Historic BridgesSatellite, 2,535 photos) Heath Michael Robinson Cut River Memorial Bridge

Brian Wells, May 2021

Facebook Reel

HistoricBridges, this page includes a description of the forces in a cantilever truss.
641' (195m) with a 300' (91m) main span
"Among Michigan's largest and most well-known historic bridges is the iconic Cut River Bridge, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This bridge is large enough that MDOT actually has maintained this bridge as an area attraction. Surrounding the bridge is a roadside park and a series of trails around the bridge. The intent to make this bridge something more than just a crossing goes back before this bridge's status as a historic bridge to its initial construction.  The bridge was designed as an attraction even when it was built, since sidewalks above the bridge in this rural area are present. Also, a set of stairways, part of the original design, take pedestrians under the bridge where they can view the supporting trusses. The abutments and piers were also given unusually exceptional detail, in particular the use of decorative stone facing. The two main piers give the appearance are attractive cut stone arches."

Lauren Marino, Jun 2020

Saturday, November 9, 2024

NYNH&H Bridge over North River in Marshfield, MA

(Archived Bridge Hunter; Satellite)

NYNH&H = New York, New Haven & Hartford

Douglas Butler posted on Nov 14, 2022
From books.google.com NH Railroad Strauss Overhead Counterweight Bascule Bridge is removed in Marshfield, MA crossing the North River.

Douglas Butler posted
Source of Railway Gazette: NYNH&H RR Strauss Overhead Counterweight Trunnion Bascule Bridge in Marshfield, MA crossing the North River was removed.

Friday, November 8, 2024

1821 Fairmount Dam on Schuylkill river in Philadelphia, PA

(Satellite)

https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/essays/fairmount-water-works/

The buildings on the right were the waterworks for which this 1821 dam was built. The dam provided waterpower to replace the steam pumps that pumped the water up into a reservoir. It was built on an angle to help break up the ice flows in the winter. Behind the trees on the left is a fish ladder. When built, that area had a canal and lock to allow steamboats to bypass the dam.
Street View

Old Images of Philadelphia posted
Reconstruction of the Fairmount Dam on the Schuylkill River after the break in 1904. Boathouse Row is in the background. Photo Credit: phillyh2o.org. [I found a different exposure in phillyh2o-course5.]
Posted by Carl Manley.
 
FairmountWaterWorks-history
[Not only does this show the canal and lock, it shows it was built in a rural area. Back then, the town was still along the Delaware River.]
The FWW opened its doors in 1815 as the sole water pumping station for Philadelphia using steam power. It was decommissioned in 1909 after Philly moved to sand filtration for water purification. The building was used for a variety of uses. As of Oct 2003, its current use is "a permanent educational facility focused on urban water education."

This page has a 16-min video about the need for clean water. In 1793, 20% of population died of yellow fever. (The video doesn't provide a time index.) I'm reminded that Philly was the largest city in America before the Erie Canal was built. It became the first city in the world to consider delivery of water to be a municipal responsibility. The steam pump could lift 2 million gallons per day up 90' to a reservoir. But the boilers exploded in 1818 and then again in 1821. So that is when they built the world's longest dam and converted to water power for the pumps. 30 gallons of water was needed to pump one gallon. The video has a nice animation of the pumping plant. The cost of pumping 1 million gallons went from $206 to $4.

The Museum of Art was built on the land that had the 22 million gallon reservoir. [video] (The original reservoir was 2 million gallons and the head was 96'. [clio])
1949 Philadelphia Quad @ 1:24,000
 
Image from Historic Marker Database via TheClio
Marian, Sara. "Fairmount Dam and Water Works." Clio: Your Guide to History. June 5, 2016. Accessed June 23, 2022https://theclio.com/entry/23261
The dam still holds the water supply for the city's Belmont and Queen Lane Pumping Stations.
The FWW supplemented a water works that was built in 1801 where the City Hall now stands.
"Power was originally supplied by Oliver Evans' high-pressure steam engine, the largest of its day."
The eight water-powered pumps were installed individually from 1822 to 1843.
Because high tides stopped the breast water wheels for a few hours twice a day, the horizontal wheels were replaced by vertical Jonval turbines in 1851. Additional buildings and turbines were added as the city grew and needed more water.

The city bought a lot of land along the Schuylkill River in an effort to prevent its pollution by industry. Even with fines, pollution happened anyhow and the river turned black. In 1890, Philly suffered a terrible outbreak of cholera and typhoid. So the city built treatment plants and shutdown this pumping of raw water. But the purchase of 3,000 acres of riverbanks "became the birthplace of what would become the largest landscaped urban park in North America." [PhiladelphiaEncyclopedia]

phillyh2o-course6
"In 1860, when the Philadelphia Board of Health began tracking causes of death, typhoid fever was among the city's leading killers. Cholera is often wrongly cited as the most deadly of various waterborne diseases, but its epidemics were episodic, while typhoid was consistently deadly. Between 1860 and 1890, cholera killed roughly 1,000 Philadelphians (most of these in a single epidemic in 1866). In the same period, typhoid fever killed more than 16,000. For each person who died from typhoid, roughly ten to fifteen more became ill but did not die, meaning that the disease ultimately afflicted hundreds of thousands of people." In the late 1800s there were three schools of thought concerning a pure water supply: 1) build aqueducts from clean watersheds upstream, 2) slow sand filtration plants and 3) bacteria is a hoax (that is, denial). "In 1900 Councils finally acted, appropriating funds to build five filtration plants and construct the water mains necessary to deliver filtered water from both rivers to all parts of the City....A new pumping station was also constructed at Lardner's Point (at that time the largest such pumping station in the world) to take water from the new Torresdale filters (then the largest single filter plant in the world ) and distribute it to reservoirs throughout the city."
Because of its extensive investment in water treatment, Philly didn't bother to finish building interceptor sewers and water reclamation (sewage treatment) plants until the 1950s. And those removed only about half of the pollutants. In the 1970s and 80s upgrades were made that removed up to 95% of the pollutants.

phillyh2o-course6
(Chart created by Adam Levine from various official sources.) Note that the water supply was chlorinated by 1914.

FairmountWaterWorks-banner

Photo via HistoricalMarker, cropped
Photographed By Eric Milask, August 4, 2013
"At 2,008 feet, this innovative dam was the longest in the United States when completed in 1821."

Photo via reddit
"Fairmont Dam, Schuylkill River, Philadelphia, PA - Left is normal conditions, right is current due to flooding from Hurricane Ida. The river has risen to a record high of 17.2 feet above normal."

"The restoration of the Fairmount Dam fishway is important because of the furthest downstream passage of this passageway flows most directly into the ocean, allowing any fish that travel upstream to spawn a direct passage to their spawning areas. American shad, the main target of the fishway, are a fish that spawn genetically, meaning that a population of shad will spawn at the same area for numerous generations. Eliminating any impediments to the Schuylkill drainage will benefit the population growth of American shad and any other fish that inhabit the Schuylkill." [FairmountWaterWorks-fish]
Satellite

Old Images of Philadelphia posted
Title: Waterworks and Philadelphia Museum of Art
Creation Date: 4/9/1940
Historic Street Address: Fairmount Dam, Schuylkill River
Media Type: Photographic Prints
Source: Print and Picture Collection
Notes:
This caption for the photograph is from the Public Ledger, April 9, 1940:  "Swollen by yesterday's heavy rainstorm, the turbulent Schuylkill gushed over Fairmount Dam, below Boathouse Row, dangerously near flood stage this morning. The high water threatens the lower levels of the Aquarium, pictured in the right background. The Art Museum is directly behind it."
Image source: The Free Library of Philadelphia