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March 5, 2005: My Dad, bearings and the main span gapn

My brother Jack brought our dad from Burlington to Charleston for an unplanned adventure. My dad, now 88, was always curious and transferred to my brothers and myself his curiosity. When they arrived, Peo provided hard hats and safety vests and off we went.

My dad and what I thought was my brother Jack. Turns out, its probably me

mar_05_4790_pop_jack.jpg

(Four years later, my brother Jack discovered that he was not in the above photo - and I remembered that surely I took a photo of him at this time with our dad - and sure enough - here it is)

Jack and Pop

Here is the view of the Ravenel bridge from Mt. Pleasant

mar_05_4739_worksite_pleasant.jpg

The real worksite

mar_05_4796_worksite.jpg

Peo and Wilbur were preoccupied with jacking the bridge around in order to close the gat between the east and west main span sections

mar_05_4767_peo_wilbur.jpg

Here is the gap

mar_05_4801_gap.jpg

Shims were being placed to hold the position

mar_05_4765_shim.jpg

and here is Wilbur's hydraulic control station

mar_05_4773_hydraulic_control.jpg

and Wilbur - with my curious dad to the left looking at the Pearman bridge

hydraulic wilbur

Looking across the bridge, here is a view along the main span floor girders

mar_05_4799_girder_gap.jpg

From the bicycle lane - here is the lane, and in the background, the Grace and Pearman bridges as they cross Drum Island and Town Creek

mar_05_4803_bike_lane_town_creek.jpg

Going back - here is the East Bay ramp (Line 14) team

mar_05_ebay_team.jpg

Part 2 of the team

mar_05_ebay_team_1.jpg

The gap for the East Bay approach

mar_05_west_ramp_gap.jpg

and then home. Wow what a day with my dad and brother

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Attribution: C. Frank Starmer from http://ravenelbridge.net

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