So last week I ran out of time catching up on past inspections, so here are a few I missed. Last Monday I was out in Cumberland to complete two inspections which were post posted due to high water.
This first bridge is a small simply supported rolled beam bridge which 20 feet over Abbott Run Canal. During the inspection RIDOT stopped by to do a quality control check and one of them informed us that the nice house spanning over the canal has a glass floor to see down to the canal below.
The bridge was rebuilt in 2006 and replaced the previously posted bridge which was built in 1886. The rebuilt bridge incorporated the original exterior girders and rail for aesthetics and only support their own self weight.
We inspected the bridge in waders and used a 16 ft ladder. We joked before the inspection after reading the previous inspection which stated "Exercise caution when wading in channel upstream and downstream of the bridge. The channel bottom is very soft consisting of decomposed organic material" seeing a channel which was just over 12 inches at most. Sure enough after taking an elevation photo and fell 4 feet into muck, good thing I'm over 6 feet or this could have been a bigger deal. Forgot to take a picture of the hole afterwards.
The rest of the inspection went smoothly tho and we were able to finish up and head down the street to our next bridge.
Much like the last bridge, this is also a rolled steel beam bridge with a timber deck and also spans 59.5 feet over Abbott Run. This bridge was rebuilt in 2007 and replaced the existing bridge which was built in 1886. The original built up steel thru pony truss remains for aesthetic purposes and carries its self weight.
The bridge was quite noisy with a loose timber plank that had missing clamps on the underside to the steel beams. While wading in the channel we got freaked out when something swam between our legs and through the mucky water, but after we realized it was a fish we had a good laugh.
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