John Wiley
Scroll through the above photos
By John Wiley
Driving under the Hwy.154 bridges near 101 where the jackhammers have been relentlessly rattling, I paused to investigate. Ed’s informative “Highway 154 Bridge Repair” article got me even more curious. The main thing this massive project is about, according to a job supervising engineer on site, is raising the guard rails! Ignoring warning signs, cyclists and pedestrians use the bridge but the rails are the old standard 24″ high. They’ll soon be the new 36″ height and wider (9″ – presumably stronger but making the bridge deck slightly narrower!). They’re also hacking notches into all the abutments, that will each hold a monster steel reinforcing beam. As “tagdes” commented on Ed’s earlier item there’s some “reactive aggregate” in the concrete, so at least the rails will lack that cosmetic defect. Here are two pics of the abutment notching process, and one also showing the old rail removed.
