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St. Augustine Record Bridge of Lions rehab continues
The skeleton of the Bridge of Lions is increasingly apparent as workers with Tidewater Skanska Inc. dismantle the historic structure. "Right now we are dismantling the Bride of Lions, and we are shipping arches and steel girders out for rehabilitation. The sections are traveling by truck to Florida Structural Steel in Lakeland," Bridge of Lions spokeswoman Laurie Sanderson said Wednesday. The Lakeland company specializes in rehabilitation. "We have removed much of the deck area on the west end of the bridge and it has a very skeletal look," Sanderson said. The work will continue until all the arches are removed. Work is under way on the support system for the restored bridge, she said. Drilling is completed on two test shafts for the cylinders that will support the restored bridge. "Starting in the next few weeks and lasting until approximately the end of next August we will be working to drill shafts for the entire support system for the bridge," Sanderson said. The majority of the concrete shafts will be 72 or 96 inches in diameter. "It's a very sturdy support system. It's built to last another 75 or 100 years," she said. In contrast, the temporary bridge handling the normal bridge traffic has 24-inch driven piling supporting it. "The thing with the drill shaft work is that once you start drilling you can't stop until the concrete is poured or you'll risk losing its stability, Sanderson said. That means the pouring will be going on at night. The company already had done a couple of drillings at night. Sanderson said there have been no complaints. "It's not noisy or intrusive work. There's not a lot of noise," she said. Channel closures under the bridge are planned next week from Oct. 2-6 at night from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. The channel closures will be underneath the Bridge of Lions and the temporary bridge and is to aid routine maintenance on the temporary bridge, Sanderson said.
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