Saturday, September 24, 2011

Newport Bridge Inspection


This coming week I will be down in Newport RI to inspect the Pell Bridge. This will also be my last week with WSP Sells, as I start my new job with Michael Baker Engineering on the 3rd. 

The Pell bridge carries RI Route 138 from Newport to Jamestown and has a structure length of 11,247 feet with a maximum span of 1,601 feet. at the highest point the deck is about 200 feet above the water and over 400 high at the tops of the towers. luckily I'm not afraid of heights!
The past few weeks the bridge has been inspected from water level on a barge with an 80 foot manlift. This coming week we will be using two 62 foot snoopers (under bridge inspection units). We will be able to see about 2/3 of the underside from our first setup and later able to inspect the remainder from the other side.

From what I've heard the Pell has the longest suspension span in New England and is ranks 75th in the world.