US-54/Champ Clark Bridges over Mississippi River at Louisiana, MO

(1928 Truss Bridge Hunter, $68.2m Girder Bridge Hunter, Historic Bridges, John A. Weeks III, http://www.champclarkbridge.com/, Satellite)

Another through truss bridge is being lost, this time to a steel girder bridge. John reports that the bridge is structurally sound and should last at least another 30 years. Evidently Missouri can afford to replace a bridge just because the lanes are too narrow. It seems Illinois can't afford to do anything. In 2005, it was repainted from green to grey. So Missouri can also afford to throw away paint.

John A. Weeks III

Photo by Steve Lombardi, May 2018
[The new bridge is upstream.]

"One of the spans collapsed during construction and had to be rebuilt." [Historic Bridges] "This photos was taken when the bridge was being constructed. The collapse was caused by faulty false work. One worker was killed in this collapse." [Jeremy Ruble in Bridge Hunter]

On Bridge Hunter, Lisa included two photos with her comment: "First photo of the Champ Clark Bridge was taken after it collapsed on September 6th 1927. One man was killed, one was seriously injured and several narrowly escaped. The collapse of the bridge was due to faulty false work. Second photo of the bridge was taken five days before the bridge collapsed."

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History
This picture shows the span of the Champ Clark Bridge shortly before it fell in the river resulting in one fatality... Credit: Clay Logan and Ray Dolbeare

Photo taken by Jeremy Ruble, License: Released into public domain

Bridge Design

July 13, 2018 Newsletter
How many construction inspectors do you see in this picture?  Look hard...you may have to squint!  Doug Pettig with MoDOT and our photographer demonstrate just how monstrous crane is that lifts all the girders and other parts of the bridge into their places.  There are a total of six Manitowoc 7000's in the world, and Massman Construction Co. owns two.  The one at the Champ Clark Bridge was previously used on the Stan Musial Veteran's Memorial Bridge in St. Louis, and the other on the Christopher S. Bond Bridge in Kansas City.
[It is configured as a ringer crane. The girders it lifts are 140' long and weight 197,000 lbs.]

MoDOT Flickr
Here we have a pano out on the IL dock. So on both sides of the picture you are looking back onto the dock. Going from the left to the right of the picture you are turning to the right and looking downriver, then straight across the river, and then up river before returning to looking down the dock.
[By downloading the original resolution photo, 20960x3872, I was able to determine that the left crane is the 7000 ringer we saw above, the middle crane is a Manitowoc 999, and the right crane is a Manitowoc 2250.]

May 11, 2018 Newsletter
[The two forms are reusable. I wonder how they release the forms from the concrete after the concrete has set so that they can be lifted and moved to the next pier.]

May 11, 2018 Newsletter
This is an inside look at the column form and steel.  Inspectors like Joe Smith, who provided this picture, have to climb down inside the form to check the spacing between the rebar cage and the form.  "We need good spacing for the concrete to fill in around it," he explained.

MoDOT Flickr
An above view of Pier 2. We are in the middle of a pour in this picture. He have the shafts that are under the water set and drilled. He then lowered a rebar cage into the two shafts. Then we are coming through and placing concrete in the shaft. Directly below the bottom crane boom and above the red box you can see the top of the shaft. On the farthest left barge is the concrete pump and the two barges with the tugs are the concrete transports. The large buckets are loaded off the bank and barged over. Then the crane picks the bucket off the barge and workers unload the concrete into the pump truck. This then pumps the concrete through a pipe down into the shaft +80ft.
[The 999 is handling the concrete  buckets and the 2250 has the foundation drill attachment. Both cranes are on spud barges. The tall, skinny brown pipes are shoved down into the river bed to anchor the barge for work. Obviously, they are pulled up before the barge is moved to a new work location such as the next pier.]

MoDOT Flickr
Here the girder has been lifted off the truck and is being carefully maneuvered by the crane to be placed out on the barge.
[Looking at the photos below, it appears that they assemble two girders as a unit on the barge before they lift it onto a pier and the falsework to reduce the amount of fabrication work that has to be done high over the water.]

Champ Clark Bridge Replacement posted three photos with the comment:

Construction on the Champ Clark Bridge hit a significant milestone today with the erection of the first structural steel girder sections.
When complete, the bridge will be made up of 68 steel girder sections, as well as 12 concrete girders. Together, these girders will support the bridge deck, which forms the road surface.
Congrats to Massman Construction Co.and the entire project team!

[2250 is on the left end, and the 7000 is in the middle. Note the 7000 is lifting more than half of the load. because it is a stronger crane.]

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The construction web page contains a webcam with a time-laspe "button." It is interesting watching the seasons change and the ice appear.