May “Bridge Talk” attendees learn about progress on new bridge, and get a close look at a section of the enormous rebar cage used in a drilled shaft
Rebar example ... The rebar cage brought to the library as part of the May “Let’s Talk Bridges” presentation was the top portion of the rebar cage poured into the demonstration drilled shaft used in the new bridge construction project. This rebar was the extra portion sticking out of the top of the shaft that was cut off after the concrete hardened. “We brought this along to show how big these parts of the drilled shafts really are,” Burke said. “We also wanted to show how the rebar is tied together to make the cage, and how the testing equipment is attached to the cage.” Photo by Robert Raymond.
by Julie Berg-Raymond
Attendees at the Thursday, May 9 session of “Let’s Talk Bridges!” - informational meetings on the new bridge construction held the second Thursday of each month at Meehan Memorial Lansing Public Library - had an opportunity to appreciate the sheer magnitude of the drilled shafts upon which the piers of the new Mississippi River bridge at Lansing will sit, when they were able to stand next to a section of the rebar cage from the demonstration shaft built by Kraemer North America, contractors on the bridge project.
“This rebar was the extra (section) sticking out of the top of the shaft that was cut off after the concrete got hard,” according to Clayton Burke, the Iowa Department of Transportation’s (DOT’s) overseeing engineer on the new bridge construction project. “We brought this along to show how big these parts of the drilled shafts really are. We also wanted to show how the rebar is tied together to make the cage, and how the testing equipment is attached to the cage.”
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