Chesapeake & Delaware Canal Cable-stayed Bridge
This is an image set within the Bridgemeister collection.
| Bridge: | Chesapeake & Delaware Canal Cable-stayed Bridge |
| Location: | St. Georges, Delaware, USA - Chesapeake & Delaware Canal |
| Coordinates: | 39.550139 N 75.656639 W |
| Maps: | Acme, GeoHack, Google, OpenStreetMap |
| Image Set Contributor: | Patrick S. O'Donnell |
| Related Image Lists: | All from Patrick S. O'Donnell All in Delaware All in USA All Cable-stayed Bridges |
| Credit: | All photos by Patrick S. O'Donnell. Please do not reuse without permission. |
Officially named "Senator William V. Roth, Jr. Bridge," this bridge carries Delaware State Route 1 across the canal. Patrick's comments accompany the photos. Make sure you scroll down to check out Patrick's interesting adventures below, around, inside, on, and on top of this bridge!
"The completed bridge."
"The next three photos are from about a week before placement of the final prefab segments. In the next picture you may notice the half of the mainspan on the left containing the cranes, appears to be a foot or two lower than its counterpart on the opposite side of the canal. The weight of the cranes themselves are the culprit of this classic 'two halves not meeting in the center' image, only on a vertical axis and not the typical horizontal axis as depicted in so many of those 'communication' posters throughout places of employment - the one with the two workers scratching their heads on opposing ends of a bridge not meeting in the middle."
"The next two photos show just an 18-inch gap between the suspended/cantilevered halves. That last 18 inches will be closed by placing forms and pouring concrete in place. An image of this from the completed inside can be seen in a later picture below."
"Shot from the lift taking me to the entry hatch on the underside of the prefab segmental girder that forms the first span out from the abutment."
"Now inside the prefab segmental girder with the entry hatch just below the center of this picture with daylight seeping through. This shot looks across the nearly one mile walk that lies ahead to the other end of the bridge. The bridge consists of uniform 150' spans, with the mainspan across the canal being 750'. It's possible to walk the entire 4650' length of the bridge (abutment to abutment) from within here. I did! Both ways as there was no construction activity at the far end. I spent about two hours up here solo with only a radio so that when I was finished I'd page my absentee host to come back with the lift to retrieve me. The nearside abutment is just behind me in this picture. It's not possible to access this 9/10 mile long chamber from the abutment, but only from the hatch on the underside of this the first span - about 80 feet off the ground and 40 feet out from the abutment. Imagine my concern when my call to page for somebody to get me down from here went unanswered for 15 - 20 minutes. Apparently the guys were all out to lunch - out of radio range. Also of note are the 'pipes' (4 on each side of this enclosed girder) that contains the cables used to post tension the 15 or so segments into one rigid girder. Under so much tension are these cables - that if one were to snap while I was in here - I'd be a 'dead man' as my host who was hoisting me into here pointed out. They chose this girder as opposed to the other girder containing the lanes going the opposite direction for my walk due to there still being some fine tuning to some of those strands of cable presently taking place."
"Myself at the massive segments that are placed atop each pier. The first span of 150' is viewed behind me with the abutment at the far end. At my feet is the portal leading to the pier's top. Just lift up the grill and one can crawl down through the opening to the 18-inch space between the pier's top and the girder's underside. The grill, and what appears as a gate at the far end at the abutment are measures taken to keep out unwanted pigeons and other roosting fowl from defecating all over the inside this newly completed bridge."
"Here's the view from after crawling down onto the pier top from within the girder. It's looking back at the abutment and the 1350' I've come so far. Not much space under here to maneuver as can be viewed by way of the counterparts across the way. That's my car above the trailer along a road passing under the second span."
"Again taken after crawling down onto the pier top from within the girder. Only this time I'm at the pier that's at the mainspan - looking across the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal. It was at one of these openings/pier tops that the only fatality occurred. Apparently the worker thought he was at a pier with a platform bolted several feet below the piers top during construction and pushed himself off the edge without confirming he was indeed at the right pier or the one at least containing a platform. I could see how a freak accident like this can happen. These portals through the bottom of the girder to the pier top start to look the same after awhile."
"Looking back from the previous picture's counterpart across the Canal."
"About every fourth or fifth pier is an expansion joint that affords more opportunities for one to orientate themselves externally of the girder with what's around them. Here the old tied arch bridge is visible. Also across the void is this expansion joints equivalent in the girder containing the opposite lanes. There were gates I had to open up to exit the girder I was leaving and another to open so that I may enter the next girder - only after steeping across the foot wide opening. I was told to 'please remember to close all gates' as to keep out the dirty birds. It's also in this image that the bearings on which the prefab segmental girders rest on are visible. The girder to the right is resting on a more stationary bearing - typical for this half of the pier top of this end of the girder, while the one from the left is resting on an elastomer rubber bearing that has more give to live load and temperature variations - typical for this half of the pier top of this end of the girder and of all the other pier tops not containing expansion joints."
"Myself looking across the mainspan chamber of the girder. These diagonal braces are supports for the 'delta frames' that are placed externally between the pair of girders containing opposing lanes of travel. The delta frames also accept the cable stays from above. The segments containing each girder and the delta frames sandwiched between them are kept in place very much the same way the segments of each 150' span are as explained earlier - through post tensioning. Only the post tensioning cables are above me embedded within the roadway running width-ways from the far edge of the outer breakdown lane across the deck width to the opposite deck's outer breakdown lane."
"Here's where the two halves of the bridge met during construction. The distinct 18-inch final poured section is clearly visible. I was told that the orange boxes where used for sighting purposes to make sure the two halves of the bridge were indeed aligned."
"Here's the celebratory piece of the final segment to be placed. I may be one of the only 'civilians' to have viewed this in person - in place. April 3, 1995 appears several times as evidence of this last piece's placement. Of note are some bridge theme related terms like 'Stressed out' & 'In GOD We Truss'. 'We miss Brad' in the upper left corner may be in memory of the worker who lost their life. Jacksonville is boxed out in the image of Florida on the right - perhaps due to Figg Engineering's major part in this bridge."
"Looking back down the roadway before entering the pylon."
"Looking the opposite direction up the roadway just before entering the pylon."
"Myself atop the pylon with the aircraft warning beacon. Not much room up here - maybe 8' squared. Very windy in that it was impossible to set up a tripod for this self image shot. I did have somebody accompany me for this climb to the tower top. He was reluctant to step the whole way outside due to the wind - only long enough and as enough to take this picture. I was told to take my time."
"Looking over a few hundred yards to the old tie arch bridge whose traffic this bridge will alleviate. The smoke is from a marsh fire near Delaware City, Delaware."
"Looking south. Truck on the northbound lanes making its way across the mainspan."
"Opposite direction to the north."
"On the horizon in the center of this image is the Delaware Memorial Twin Span about a dozen or so miles distant."
"The cool pattern of the cable stays shadow across the roadway."
"I love this shot! First, the water 150' +/- below the bridge appears to be just below the roadway as viewed from up here 200' +/- above the roadway. Second, it may appear to be obvious that the trailer the truck below may have been involved in a low overpass incident due to the shininess of the roof in the front part of the trailer. The yellow of the stays and their shadows as well as the shadows of the light posts further add to the reasons I find this photo interesting."
"Centered and looking as straight down over the railing as sanely possible onto the mainspan. The wind was holding me back."
"Again looking straight down on the northbound lanes containing another truck with interesting shadow pattern from the stays of this pylon and the shadow of the pylon itself."
"Priceless. Here Sarah is about a year and a half. Taken shortly after the last segment was placed in the girder -early to mid April of '95. Many Sunday afternoon drives for the first few years of Sarah's life were taken driving down here to check on construction progress. It gave Mom a break, and many times I'd make it an all day outing swinging into New Jersey to visit family just a little more than a half hour up the other side of the Delaware Memorial Bridge. Of course driving across the bridge to get there was a joy."
