Scan to view a short video on the South Smith Road over Turtle Creek bridge replacement project or visit https :// bit . ly / AyresSSR
When the Wisconsin Department of Transportation announced in February 2019 that funding was available to help offset the cost of moving the old bridge , Luety was one of several who filled out the paperwork explaining where he would relocate the structure and how it would be used . Applications were assessed by WisDOT and the Wisconsin State Historical Preservation Office . When his application was selected , several people stepped forward to help him figure out how to safely transport a 99,000-pound historic bridge down the road and across a field to its new setting across a small creek on his family farm .
After several months of planning , Luety and his friends began their work in March 2020 .
Bringing home the bridge
It takes a big crane to lift a 120-foot-long , 19-foot-wide steel bridge . Luety ’ s group brought in more than 20 truckloads of stone to provide a foundation for a 550-ton crane supplied by McCutchin Crane and Rigging out of Janesville . The crane itself had to be transported on nine trucks and assembled on-site using a 35-ton crane .
Approximately 8,000 pounds of rigging was used to attach the bridge to the crane . After about three hours ’ work , the crane slowly lifted the bridge out of position and then lowered it onto
two semi trailers . Dutton Welding and Millwright Services of Darien built a special hitch so the whole rig could be attached to a farm tractor and pulled down the road to a short-term parking space .
A few days later , Rock Energy was able to temporarily remove a power line in the bridge ’ s proposed path , and a second farm tractor pulled the rig across a field to a park-like setting on Luety ’ s rural property .
Out with the old , in with the new
With the old bridge safely removed , construction on the replacement structure began . The project represents a careful balance between managing cost , limiting disruption to adjacent properties , and improving the river crossing as much as possible , according to Dave Pantzlaff , Ayres ’ design project manager .
“ There was a really sharp curve at the west end of the old bridge , and one of our goals was to eliminate that curve to benefit drivers ,” he said . “ A long , sweeping curved approach could have added 400 feet to the roadway , and that translated into more disruption for local property owners and increased cost . Our design shifted the bridge just enough to still provide a substantial improvement while modifying that sharp curve .”
14 | TRENDS Ingenuity , Integrity , and Intelligence .