» Engineering

What did you do at work today?  Send some e-mails, update your calendar, attend some meetings, walk through the inside of a bridge…

Wait, what?  Metro Engineering intern Justin Pattison walked through the Eads Bridge today (yes, he is trained to do that!), and he shared with me some of the photos he took.   The Metro crew and he went out to identify a utilities construction plan for the Eads Bridge rehabilitation project. The bridge has not had a new paint coating for 135 years, and needs to be scraped and repainted, along with some other repairs.

Check out some of the amazing photos Justin took of St. Louis’ historic bridge, the first steel structure project in the U.S.  Imagine, when James Eads built this bridge, steel was considered a new building material.  The structural success of the Eads Bridge helped launch the career of Andrew Carnegie.

For more information on the rehab project, see Jennifer’s post on the Eads Bridge rehabilitation.

The Bridge is still structurally sound, so MetroLink and cars on the upper deck safely travel across.

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Congratulations to the Vandeventer Bridge demolition and construction team…the bridge is now open to MetroLink service between the Central West End and Grand stations.  It opens today, three days ahead of schedule.

The $5-million project to replace the 80-year-old bridge is due to a federal grant for transit capital projects.  The bridge had a number of structural defects, including cracks and settling problems:

Vandenventer Bridge before construction

The bridge had settling problem, as shown above

The bridge received a number of structural and cosmetic updates, and opens today at 3pm for MetroLink service.  Vandeventer Avenue will open by the end of January, and the bridge project will be completed in early spring with a new retaining wall and streetscape updates.

Vandeventer Bridge, December 31, 2009

The bridge is able to open ahead of schedule because demolition took less time than expected, cranes were able to lift the catenary rather than remove it, and Metro employees worked alongside constractors to finish the project as quickly as possible.

MetroLink service will operate under normal weekday hours, and will extend to 1 a.m. in the morning to accommodate Convention and First Night crowds.

Congratulations to head of Metro’s Engineering Department, Chris Poehler, Vera Cavato, Project Manager for the Vandeventer Bridge project, and the entire team. Special thanks go to Metro employees who volunteered to help with the bus bridge.

From all of us, please have a safe and wonderful New Year’s celebration!