More beams arrive for Niles Main Street Bridge
Published 10:01 am Friday, September 4, 2015
Leader photo/CRAIG HAUPERT
Workers help guide a bridge beam to the ground Thursday in Niles. The beam is being held up by a crane off picture.
Fourteen down, seven more to go.
On Wednesday, seven more 72-ton bridge beams were delivered to the staging area on the west side of the St. Joseph River.
They will be used in the building of the new Niles Main Street Bridge, which has been under construction since October.
Workers delivered the first seven beams to a staging area on the east side of the river Tuesday.
Chris Jacobs, a project engineer for the Michigan Department of Transportation, said the final seven beams would be delivered on Friday, Sept. 11, bringing the total amount of beams to 21.
The beams will be used to span the bridge’s two abutments and piers.
In order to set the beams in place, a 550-ton crane is needed. Jacobs said the crane would likely be delivered on Sept. 9 — the earliest date workers could obtain the crane.
Jacobs said it is likely that they can begin setting the beams in place on Thursday, Sept. 10, depending on how quickly the crane can be assembled.
The new bridge replaces one that had been in place for 90 years. The MDOT project comes at a price tag of $10.6 million.
Jacobs said the bridge is on track to open to traffic by either the end of November or beginning of December.
