On the night of Thursday, Feb. 10, 2005, crews set the girders for the new bridge over southbound I-5 at South 317th Street. Below are some facts about this major milestone for the project. View photos.
By the numbers:
- Number of girders: Four
- Length of each girder: 128 feet - approximately 8 car lengths
- Height of each girder: 4 feet
- Weight of each girder: 200,000 lbs (100 tons) - about as much as 50 cars
- Cost of each girder: $50,000
Other facts:
- We used trapezoidal tub girders, which are pre-cast concrete girders shaped like a bathtub.
- The girders were fabricated at Concrete Technology Corporation in Tacoma, about 10 miles from the job site. Crews delivered the girders to the job site Thursday afternoon, Feb. 10.
- Each girder was delivered to the job site in two pieces because they were too long to deliver and lift into place in one piece.
- A large crane sat on the permanent I-5 southbound lanes (closed since October 2004 for pavement reconstruction) and lifted the girders into place.
- The girders rest on the two bridge supports at South 317th Street. They were also supported by a temporary shoring tower until crews made the final connections between the two pieces of each girder.