Bridging the Sparkill Gap
In 1999 Burt Crane & Rigging was called upon to erect the thirteen steel
towers, ranging in heights to 95 feet tall, and the structural steel girders for
the 1,000 meter viaduct to carry NY Route 9W across the ancient course of the
Hudson River.
Efficient
Methods
Faced with 80 foot columns to be erected on a batter and an impossibly tight
work area, we elected to ground assemble and completely bolt the north and south
faces of each tower before erecting utilizing our in-house designed and
fabricated “Tripper” Unit.
Professional Rigging
We
raise the first face of the tower using our 175 ton Krupp KMK5175 All Terrain
Crane with our “Tripper” attachment that directed the load lines, one to the top
of the tower and one to the center of gravity, facilitating the up righting with
one crane. We anchored the first face and then immediately
erected
the second face and tied them together with the bracing.
Massive Lifts
Intricate steel work was required to direct the forces from the girders into
the tower legs. While the tower legs and bracing were erected, the massive tower
top assemblies, with their skewed connections and multiple ply connections were
built and erected. Note the size of the tower
relative to the automobile in the foreground.
Crossing Above Neighborhoods
Once
the towers were substantially erected, we began erecting the girders to complete
the structure. Our Krupp KMK175 dropped back to do most of the erecting.
Here we are crossing Ferdon Avenue on our way
north.
Bridging the Island
Faced with crossing an inaccessible island, we lifted the girders over the
trees on the left, connected the end to our Liebherr LTM 1120/1 - 150 ton All
Terrain Crane on the right. Then, using our “Tripper”, we transferred a portion
of its weight from our Krupp 175 ton crane to the LTM 1120/1 to allow us to set
them in place at the long reach required.
Crossing Piermont Avenue - The Poor Neighbors!
With no room at all, we were forced to work in the front yards
of some of the properties. Talk
about tight; the viaduct passes over the corner of the deck of
one house and when the State
plows snow, it lands on his roof!!
One More Span to Go
With our KMK175 in position ready to go with the sun beating down on the
steel on a hot day, we delay hanging the rest of the girders until the next
morning because the steel has grown 2 1/2 inches in the heat. In
the distance the general contractor can be seen
placing the deck forms.
