Letter to the Editor: There's Nothing New Under the Sun for Bridges

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For I-75 Span Replacement, ODOT Plans Ohio's First Bridge Slide

Muskingum River Bridge, Engineering News, 1915

I get a bit amused by articles on “new” construction methods for bridges, such as the following one in Ohio.

In the article titled “For I-75 Span Replacement, ODOT Plans Ohio’s First Bridge Slide” (as reported in the Toledo Blade and daily ENR News Alert on 6/22), the Ohio Dept. of Transportation is planning to slide in a replacement for the Interstate 75 bridge over U.S. 6 later this year, the first time the method will be used on a state project.

You might be interested in the attached article from Engineering News from 1915. It reports on a bridge slide done by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1914. The bridge consisted of three double-track through-truss spans, each span 240 ft in length. The slide was completed in 10 minutes, 17 seconds and between scheduled trains.

Haven’t seen anyone top that!

Jim Richter, Deputy Chief Engineer, Amtrak, Philadelphia

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