Two powerful storms wreaked havoc with the forms, so engineers had to straighten the forms before concrete could be poured for the two tower piers and the 52 other piers. The 90, cubic yards of concrete in the piers and anchorages - the largest amount of concrete ever poured underwater - were poured by the "tremie" method, a low-pressure procedure that involves pouring grout into a tremie tube. Compared to traditional methods, the "tremie" method exerts less pressure on the pier walls when the concrete is being poured.
At the time of the piers' erection in and , the Newport Bridge held the single-project construction record for the use of the "tremie" method. During the summer and fall of , workers erected the two foot-tall steel towers of the bridge. The streamlined towers and arched portals are reminiscent of those found on bridges designed by Othmar Ammann such as the Verrazano-Narrows, Bronx-Whitestone, Walt Whitman and Delaware Memorial bridges. Workers complete pavement and electrical work on the Claiborne Pell Newport Bridge in this photo.
This conventional cable-spinning process was repeated thousands of times. For the Newport span, Bethlehem Steel developed a new construction method that used prefabricated parallel wire strands.
The two main cables, each of which measured just over 15 inches in diameter, were coated with a glass fiber-plastic protective casing. Each of the bridge's main cables had 76 strands, and each strand had 61 wires each 0.
Laid end to end, the wires would stretch for more than 8, miles. The cables weighed a total of 2, tons. This work continued from late through mid By late , workers began work on hoisting the roadway into place. Floating cranes hoisted the conventional steel truss sections on the main suspension span from Narragansett Bay. The distance between towers is 1, feet, and at center span, the roadway provides a foot vertical clearance for ocean-bound vessels.
On either side of the main suspension bridge, there are 11 deck-truss spans measuring a total of 3, feet; 15 girder spans measuring a total of 2, feet; feet of multi-girder spans and 2, feet of pre-stressed concrete beam spans. The concrete deck is seven and one-half inches deep. Approximately 17, cubic yards of concrete were used to build the roadway deck.
The finishing touches included the installation of 35 miles of electrical wire for the bridge's lighting system. New approaches were built on the Newport side of the bridge to connect with future expressway connections. The overall length of the bridge is 11, feet 3, m. The East and West towers rise feet m above the water surface, and the peak of the roadway deck is feet 66 m.
RI Route crosses the four-lane bridge, two in each direction. Senator Claiborne S. Pell of Newport. Pell is best known as the sponsor of the Pell Grant, which provides financial-aid funding to American college students. Toll revenue is earmarked for the payment of interest on the original bonds used to build the bridge as well as to provide for the repair and maintenance efforts to keep the bridge well maintained for the approximately 27, vehicles that cross it daily.
And since about 27, vehicles pass over it every day, it's safe to say it's essential to our state. On any given day, you'll probably notice a photographer or two in the area.
Rhode Island In Your Inbox spinner. Thank you! The bridge is an iconic symbol of our state. It's the gateway to Narragansett Bay and the Ocean State, and is, by far, the most photographed structure in our state. The best in America.
The bridge has survived for 50 years over salty ocean waters, due to the diligent care and maintenance provided by the management and staff at RITBA. The bridge would never had survived such harsh climatic conditions without a regular service plan. RITBA is busy keeping her in top shape, so she can continue to be the vital link to our island communities for the next 50 years. As the celebration approaches, construction crews are resuming work on the significant structural rehabilitation project on the bridge.
Workers are replacing approximately 4, ft. The work is part of the multi-year, multi-phase project, which began in the spring of We are working diligently to complete this project, utilizing an innovative hydrodemolition and partial depth deck replacement strategy, while still giving drivers the ability to cross the bridge every day. Phase I of this portion began in May, and will continue through early August. There will not be any lane closures during rush hours for this initial phase of the work.
The work will be performed mostly at night, and includes installing temporary traffic management signs to help keep travel safe, installing permanent digital lane control signals on the bridge, performing expansion joint header repair on the road deck and conducting routine maintenance.
Phase II of this project will begin in early August. Permanent lane closures will be required on the bridge at that time. During rush hour travel, RITBA will deploy a new traffic pattern for this phase that is planned to lessen traffic delays. After rush hour, they will move the median barrier to create two lanes of travel leaving Newport in the afternoon. This traffic pattern and daily change of the barrier location will best accommodate the directions of the heavy daily traffic.
Although planning began in the mids, efforts to build the bridge were delayed until after World War II. By , the state had stepped up its efforts to construct a bridge over the East Passage of Narragansett Bay by establishing the Newport-Jamestown Civic Commission; however, it wasn't until April that construction of the approach piers began.
It spans Narragansett Bay at a length of 1, ft. The overall length of the bridge is 11, ft. The east and west towers rise ft.
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