The old Puyallup River Bridge in Washington state was structurally deficient and needed replacing. Over a weekend, Omega Morgan lifted the 850,000 pound steel truss bridge off its supports using hydraulic jacks and slid it onto dollies on the new bridge nearby. They then transported it a quarter mile to a storage site. The efficient removal and relocation of the bridge allowed the new structure to open ahead of schedule with minimal traffic disruption. Accelerated bridge construction techniques like those used on this project can help reduce costs and impacts of replacing aging infrastructure.

1. A KHL Group Publication www.khl.com/actA KHL Group Publication www khl com/actt
The magazine for the crane, lifting and transport industry
December 2015
Volume 11 ■ Issue 12AMERICAN CRANES & TRANSPORT
Official domestic
magazine of
the SC&RA
Exclusive
ranking of North
America’s top
specialized
transport
companies
Omega Morgan relocates the
old Puyallup River Bridge
Rolling
on the river
ACTTRANSPORT50
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2. 52
SITE REPORT TRANSPORT
ACT DECEMBER 2015
Thanks to Omega
Morgan and the process
of Accelerated Bridge
Construction, replacing
the Puyallup River Bridge
was a weekend project.
R
eplacing the deteriorating and
aging State Route 167 Puyallup
River Bridge in the City of
Puyallup was a priority for the Washington
State Department of Transportation.
After serving for 90 years as an
important connecting route in the Puget
Sound as an alternate to Interstate 5, the
steel truss bridge had become structurally
deficient and functionally obsolete. In
recent years, due to deteriorated floor
beams, a load restriction was put in place
requiring vehicles larger than 10,000
pounds gross weight to use one lane only.
The $31.2 million design-build project
traded the existing northbound steel
truss bridge for a new two-lane structure.
A plan was put in place to reinforce the
bridge so trucks could continue to drive
over it while construction began on the
new northbound span.
“The new bridge is built to modern
engineering and earthquake standards,”
said WSDOT Project Engineer Dewayne
Matlock. “The new bridge removed
the height and weight restrictions we
saw on the 1920s bridge, which was
Once loaded, the bridge was transported
just a quarter of a mile away to a
laydown site where the Washington
State Department of Transportation will
determine the bridge’s fate. The move
went so well that southbound traffic was
opened 17 hours ahead of schedule and
northbound traffic 14 hours ahead of
schedule.
The 1920s bridge will remain stored
onsite for up to four years while WSDOT
works to find a way to reuse it, perhaps as
part of a pedestrian trail. If unsuccessful,
the steel will be recycled.
Not a unique problem
The problem in Puyallup is not an
uncommon one. According to the latest
National Bridge Inventory released by the
Federal Highway Administration there
are over 215 million daily crossings on
pretty important to the trucking
community that makes up 10
percent of the traffic that uses the
bridge.”
Before the new bridge could
open to traffic, however, crews
had to move the steel truss bridge out of
the way. In came Omega Morgan, whose
crews made the move look easy.
“Omega Morgan’s attention to detail
in the engineering and planning of the
steel truss bridge move was extremely
impressive,” said Matlock. “They are very
competent in what they do.”
A meticulous plan
Traffic was shut down over one weekend
in August so that a team from Omega
Morgan could remove the bridge that was
no longer being used and move it to a
storage yard a quarter mile away.
Weighing in at 850,000 pounds, the old
steel bridge was jacked 21 feet in the air
using hydraulic jacks and slid 60 feet onto
24 dollies that were parked on the new
bridge that was completed earlier in the
summer.
After serving for
90 years as a
connecting
route in the
Puget Sound, the
Puyallup River
Bridge had become
structurally
deficient and
functionally
obsolete.
The old bridge was slid 60 feet onto
24 dollies that were placed on the new
bridge that was completed earlier in the summer.
Weighing in at 850,000 pounds, the
old steel bridge was jacked 21 feet
in the air using hydraulic jacks.
The ABCs of bridge r
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3. TRANSPORT SITE REPORT
more than 61,000 structurally deficient
bridges across the United States. These
bridges are safe to use but need significant
maintenance or repair to remain in
service. Another 83,000 are functionally
obsolete, and while they may be in good
working order, they fail to meet current
standards and need to be upgraded when
it is time for them to be replaced. That is
nearly one-quarter of the total 607,000
bridges across the country.
Federal, state and local governments
have been investing heavily in bridge
maintenance and repairs; however, the
Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)
estimates that to eliminate the nation’s
bridge deficient backlog in the next 12
years, investment in bridge repair and
replacement would need to be increased
by 60 percent.
Continued funding issues and challenges
means a number of project delays across
the country. To address those delays
and make the most of available dollars,
Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC)
is becoming more and more the preferred
method.
ABC uses state-of-the-art planning
and construction approaches to limit the
onsite construction time that occurs when
building new bridges or replacing existing
bridges. There are many advantages of
ABC construction including reduced
traffic impacts, reduced construction time,
reduced need for detours and improved
site constructability and worksite safety,
according to Don Hansen, senior project
manager, Omega Morgan.
Often the cost of traffic detours that
result from the closure of a bridge during
new construction can actually surpass
the cost of the new bridge structure itself.
Closures in large metropolitan areas, or
heavily travelled thoroughfares, can have
a substantial economic impact on the
businesses in the region.
From a cost savings standpoint,
accelerated construction means that DOTs
can replace bridges within just a few
days, reducing planning and construction
efforts by years. Not only does this
potentially save money, but it means that
drivers and will see less of an impact on
their lives and businesses can return to
normal operations more quickly.
Endless opportunities
“The issue of aging bridge infrastructure,
like in Puyallup, poses a significant
opportunity for Omega Morgan to partner
with transportation departments and
engineering and construction companies
across the Northwest and the country,”
said Greg Tansey, CEO, Omega Morgan.
“We hope to do more work like this within
the near future because it gives us the
Once loaded,
the bridge was
transported a
quarter of a mile
away to a laydown
site where the
Washington State
Department of
Transportation
will determine the
bridge’s fate.
53DECEMBER 2015 ACT
chance to work on projects that impact
communities both large and small. We
pride ourselves on delivering top notch
engineering to solve the most complex
of challenges, and these accelerated
construction projects provide us the
opportunity to do just that.”
Omega Morgan’s Vice President of
Engineering Ralph DiCaprio is no stranger
to bridge moves. His resume includes the
complicated removal of Portland’s Sauvie
Island Bridge and installation of the new
bridge, managing the Third Avenue Bridge
project in New York City, moving two 900-
ton spans on the Hood Canal Bridge and
the transport and launch of the Kalama
River Bridge.
In early 2013, DiCaprio devised a plan
to move the historic 1,100-foot-long,
3,400-ton Sellwood Bridge in Portland,
OR. It was deemed the longest, most
complex translation ever completed and it
happened in less than one day.
Another recent bridge project completed
on DiCaprio’s watch was the Skagit
River Bridge in Washington. After being
struck by a truck, the Skagit River Bridge
collapsed. More than 71,000 drivers use
this main connecting route each day so
it was paramount to be able to quickly
replace the collapsed bridge. In just under
six months, contractor crews removed the
collapsed bridge, put a temporary span in
place, constructed a new span and Omega
Morgan was responsible for jacking and
sliding that new span to its permanent
home. That move also took less than one
day to complete.
When asked about the opportunity to
move more bridges in the future, DiCaprio
says the team is up for any task. “No two
projects are the same, we move everything
from massive transformers to delicate
high-tech equipment. Each move poses
its own unique set of challenges and the
fun is in finding the most efficient way to
get the job done and having our crew do it
safer and faster than anyone else.” ■
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The move went so well that
southbound traffic was
opened 17 hours ahead
of schedule and
northbound traffic
14 hours ahead
of schedule.
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