Timber Pier Bents Special Member Inspections

Still very busy with design work and trying to update when I have a chance.

Back on April 14th I inspected two special member bridges. The first bridge has a timber deck with two timber pier bents and spans over Woonasquatuck River in North Providence. 

The Special member inspection only focused on the timber pier bents which had checks and splits with section loss to the columns along the water line.

The second bridge has rolled steel beams which are two span continuous and spans over Bucks Horn Brook in Coventry.   

Powder Point Bridge

I meant to post this before but it slipped my mind. Back in August my company inspected the Powder Point Bridge which gives a short cut to the Duxbury Beach. 

The bridge spans over Duxbury Bay and consists of 110 simply supported timber beam spans supported by two abutment pile bents and 109 pile bents. The bridge was built in 1987 and was designed by Universal Engineering Corp. for the town of Duxbury.

The bridge use to own the record for the Worlds oldest longest wooden bridge before being rebuilt and now it is currently 2200 feet long from abutment to abutment.

If you are from the South Shore of Mass you know if bridge very well. Ever since I was little I have crossed this bridge to get to the beach. If you are lucky enough to have a Duxbury Beach sticker you can drive right onto the beach, if not you are forced to make the walk from an expensive parking lot or a tiny free lot that never seems to be empty.