Bridge 1, Broadway
Repairs and replacement of bent or corroded areas continue under the bridge.
As one girder looks pretty much like another, we thought we'd give you some 'before' and 'after' shots of the same areas:
The above two pictures show the same main cross girder before, and during repair. The new pieces still have to be welded in.
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| Wreckage... |
The above picture shows some of the pieces that have been cut out. Note that the scaffolding planks went in looking pure and white, and are now covered in rust, old rivets and rusty pieces of old bridge. Plenty of repair work going on up there then.
The next two pictures show the Evesham side flange plate before and after the stiffeners were added.
Virtually all of the “joggled web stiffeners” (12 on
each outer face) have been welded into place in both outer main girders. These stiffeners are a constant source of corrosion and
are difficult items to replace. It involves cutting the old piece out and welding
and bolting into place a new manufactured piece. These are awkward to make,
requiring a 10mm thick plate to be bent at 45degrees and then to have a shaped
stiffener welded into it.
This picture shows a heavily corroded stiffener before removal (that's a centimetre of metal eaten away by the rust moth):
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| Moth eaten stiffener supporting the Evesham side flange plate. |
...and here is the same place with a new stiffener welded and bolted in:
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| New stiffener in place. |
Steel work continues at Bridge 1 every day at the moment, so good progress is being made. However, numerous other items still have to be addressed, including the final shotblasting and painting, so we are not quite there yet..
Bridge 5, Little Buckland
The shuttering for the 3rd
concrete pour behind the north abutment wall is now fully completed, following
two small end extensions, plus the hoisting into place of the outer face
shuttering to the upside, Broadway end wing wall. Again our photos show these
apparently minor changes, which have taken 3 days to complete, in readiness for
the pour on Monday next:
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| Wing wall shuttering in place |
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| Shuttering in place for next level pour. |
There's a lot of concrete going into this bridge. Let's hope they can get the supplies on Monday as planned. We'll be over there to take a look for you.
Could someone explain to me why the bolts in the stiffeners on Bridge 1 are in upside down.If the nuts come loose the bolt falls out,also the thread is exposed to the weather.Nigel Barton-Hawkins.
ReplyDeleteThe tool for tightening the high strength bolts is too large to fit on the bolts, in some places where they clash with rivet heads at right angles, so they have to be fitted in the other way up. This is a shame, primarily from an aesthetic point of view, as can be seen on one of the earlier posts where, in a 4-bolt row, we have had to fit two rows nuts down and two nuts up. The chances of the bolts coming out having been torqued to the correct value is virtually nil ! The pieces in the latest photos have still to be shot blasted and given 3 coats of paint which should give a life of 25 to 30 years before any maintenance is required.
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