— from John Van Lund —
Progress continues on both east and west abutments. Crews will remove forms from the west abutment wall and will form and pour the footing for the east abutment. In addition, they will begin forming the east abutment wall.
The piles are in at the east abutment and the west abutment stemwall concrete was completed…despite some challenges.
One key element to placing concrete in tall forms is the “pour rate”.
If the pour rate is too fast, the forms at the bottom will buckle because the hydrostatic pressure of the wet concrete is too great and the concrete hasn’t started to set up.
This was a lesson I learned a long time ago when building our house and having the bottom form slide inwards so the finished wall surface is not vertical, but slopes inward.
Please drive safely.
I really find interesting and appreciate the reports from the engineers and crew doing such great work on our new Channel Road bridge. Seeing them move right along is very gratifying. Pretty soon we will be driving safely over a bridge to be proud of.