The Arrowsic to Georgetown bridge was opened to traffic the last week of October with an appreciative crowd of local citizens marking the milestone with a ribbon cutting ceremony. Reed & Reed crews began removal of the existing bridge shortly after that. In addition to the approach spans, there were two spans of truss to remove, 1 -110ft span and 1-210ft span. The grating and top side steel framework were removed from the trusses in 20-ft sections and lifted onto a barge for disposal. The 110-ft span was posted up at the panel points and cut apart in 20 ft sections. The 210-ft truss section was floated from its bearings by positioning a deck barge underneath and letting the incoming tide do the heavy lifting.
Once the truss was lifted clear and secured to the deck barge it was towed the 5 miles to our Dockyard Facility on the Kennebec River to be cut into scrap. Seeing the truss sail up the Kennebec was reminiscent of the way the Carlton Bridge in Bath was built in the 1920s. The contractor for that project pre-assembled the trusses on barges and floated them to the piers where they settled on the bearings as the tide ebbed. |
