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Bay Bridge project continues to set records Left to right: Former Caltrans Director Will Kempton, NCCRC Executive Officer Bob Alvarado, Congress-man George Miller, Chair of the House Labor Com-mittee, and C.C. Myers, Founder and CEO of the firm that bears his name.Labor Day weekend 2009 saw another amazing engineering feat on the massive Bay Bridge project, and—of course—UBC members were in the middle of the action. The bridge closed for 70 hours so an existing section could be moved out and a new temporary section could be slid in. These steps are preparing the way for the tie-in of the new eastern span to the tunnel through Yerba Buena Island. The scale of this work was remarkable in itself. The bridge was initially closed so workers could cut and slide out a 300-foot-long, 3,200-ton double-deck section of the East Span, 150 feet in the air. A new 3,600-ton double-deck section was moved into place to connect the bridge to a short detour. During the project, Caltrans engineers inspected the rest of the East Span where they discovered a crack in a brace, totally unrelated to the replacement project. Remarkably, replacement sections were fabricated—in Arizona!—trucked to California and installed, and the reopening of the bridge was only delayed by a couple of hours, although the initial estimate was that it would delay the opening by 24 hours. During this last-minute drama, much of the media focus shifted to it, which detracted from some of the recognition due to the workers who moved a total of 6,800 tons of steel and concrete in 70 hours, while working 150 feet in the air. We want to be sure that the Brotherhood members who took part in this remarkable display of skill get their due. The following members of Pile Drivers Local 34 worked on the Bay Bridge move over Labor Day weekend: Kevin McClain, Shawn McClain, Steve Martini, Jaime Inguez, Feranndo Rivera, Steve Stroud, Jason Stevens and Eddie D’Andre. The work they did as part of the project included: installing sliding joint plates on Yerba Buena 1 and Yerba Buena 2; installing joint plates on the east tie-in; installing deck plates at tie-ins; placing 3,200 feet of K-rail; installing cable bracing on the old structure to prep for demo; and working on some of the cutout to separate the old bridge section that was to be removed. Congratulations to these Brothers, and to the rest of the skilled union tradesmen and women that brought this amazing feat in on time. If you want more information, including a time-lapse video of the shift, visit the Bay Bridge information website. |
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