Crane (kinda-thing) Collapses in Toledo

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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Probably some of you saw this on the national news last night, but here’s a link to a local news story: http://www.wtol.com/Global/story.asp?S=1647474

The Ohio Dept of Transportation has been building us a new Maumee River crossing on I-280 for the past year or so. Oddly enough, it is replacing one of the very few drawbridges in the entire Interstate System. This project is, according to ODOT, the largest single-site road construction project ever undertaken in Ohio - over $220 million. It is intended to be a six-lane beautiful cable-stayed bridge when complete. The main span is supposed to be nearly 1100 feet long, the cross-river traffic surface will be 135 feet in the air, on and off ramps wind around and travel beneath the main span. The two main pylons will be over 400 feet above river level when the pouring of the concrete is complete; they’ll be nearly as tall as the tallest building in Toledo. The main pylons are to incorporate a kinda stained-glass motif and be lit at night from inside the pylons. I haven’t been able to find a good artist’s rendering of the completed bridge. If anyone else finds one, please link it here.

Yesterday, one of the two main cranes, called “launching trusses” used for lifting the huge concrete sections (85 tons each) into place to form the south-bound three lanes collapsed and fell to earth. 3 are dead and a few more injured. The launching truss fell between the existing north and southbound lanes of I-280 traffic that is being maintained through the construction site. The truss itself weighed 2 million pounds and was over 300 feet long.

Since I’m a bit of a geek, I liked to drive through the construction site on I-280 about once a week. The pictures in the above article don’t really show the scope and magnitude of this project. It is truly amazing to see from ground level - even at 30 MPH.

If you go to this web page and click the link that says “Interactive Project Journal” you can view lots more pictures of the various phases of construction. Click the main span portion in the window that pops up. Selecting picture #6 will shows the truss mounted on top of the road surface.

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That would be this website: http://www.lookuptoledo.org/servlet/com.hntb.toledo.servlets.NewsManagement?option=3

And picture #4 show both of the launching trusses side-by-side from beneath on the surface of one of the access ramps.

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I drove through this stretch in August. “Drove” is something of an exaggeration. “Roll forward a few feet, park for 5 minutes, roll forward a few feet, park for 8 minutes…” would be more accurate. Sitting next to the gigantic machinery, with chunks of concrete larger than my car dangling some 50-100 feet overhead, was unnerving to say the least and not something I’ll soon forget.

The experience was vivid enough now, 6 months later, that I shudder imagining the magnitude of this accident.

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One of the other mothers at my sons’ daycare is the niece of the critically injured steelworker. He broke both femurs, every rib in his body and–I believe–his pelvis. She was pretty shaken up about it yesterday, but relieved that he was at least still alive.

Oddly enough, the bridge being replaced (the drawbridge UncleBeer mentioned) was the site of the last bridge-worker fatality in Toledo–a steelworker fell to his death during construction.

It’s a sad situation, but I hope it doesn’t cause any of the plans surrounding the construction to be changed or downsized. It’s going to be a beautiful bridge and I’m looking forward to seeing it finished.