Iron and Steel Preservation Conference in Lansing: October 18-19

US Hwy. 2 Cut River Bridge. Photo taken by James Baughn

Lansing, Michigan- Entries are still being taken for this year’s annual Iron and Steel Preservation Conference. The two-day event will take place on Friday and Saturday, October 18-19 at the Lansing Community College West Campus, located at 5708 Cornerstone Drive in Lansing. With a couple exceptions, this conference has been held annually and focuses on welding and other industrial techniques, using historic bridges as examples, as the state has many of them still in use, a third of which have been credited through the technical expertise of those who have participated in the workshop and has done a lot of work with historic bridge preservationists and welding experts.

The events on each day will be from 8:00am to 5:00pm. According to the coordinator, Vern Mesler, the Conference will feature the following:

Day One of this conference is primarily lecture, and Day Two participants will have opportunities to see Demonstrations of actual preservation techniques and have hands on learning opportunities.

Day 1 – Speaker’s Forum:
Presentations on the rehabilitation work recently completed on Michigan’s Cut River Bridge on U.S. Highway 2 in the Upper Peninsula by Michigan Department of Transportation personnel who were directly involved in the rehabilitation work. (Lloyd Baldwin, cultural and historic resource coordinator for MDOT, will lead these sessions from the initial planning stages to the completion of the rehabilitation work.)

Presentations on issues related to riveted and bolted connections and on the damaging effects of pack rust on metal structures. Presentations on the role of riveting in new construction and design.

The presenters at the Friday event:

• Lloyd Baldwin, Cultural and Historic Resource Coordinator (MDOT)

“Cut River Bridge Rehabilitation”

• Andrew Zevchak & Mario Quagliata (MDOT)

“Bridge Rehabilitation Design Overview”

• Christopher Garrell, PE (AISC)

“Exploiting the Resiliency of Built-up Steel Members”

• Robert J. Connor, PhD (Purdue University)

“Research and Evaluation of Pack-out Corrosion in Steel Built-up Members at Purdue University”

• Steve Howell, Ballard Forge

“Hydraulic riveting introduction”

• Steve Howell and Lansing Community College Staff

“Hydraulic Rivet Demonstration”

 

Day 2 – Hands On Demonstration:
The experienced staff of craftsmen at Lansing Community College will demonstrate electric arc welding processes, braze welding, and an introduction to the industrial rivet process (both field riveting and shop hydraulic riveting).

 

The event is open to all who are interested in the profession of welding and/or preservation of historic bridges and workshop participants will experience the use of the aforementioned welding demonstrations and other industrial processes during hands-on sessions and learn how these processes are used in the preservation of historic metals and new construction. One of the key centerpieces of this conference will be the Cut River Bridge along US Hwy. 2, which had recently undergone extensive rehabilitation using these welding techniques that will be presented at the conference (for more on the bridge, please click here).

Breakfast and lunch will be provided for both days. Participants will need to book their own lodging accomodations. For more information and to register for the event, please click on the link below, which will lead you directly to the conference website and registration page:

https://axiom.lcc.edu/wconnect/ace1/CourseStatus.awp1?&course=194IRON00135

For more information on the conference, please contact Vern Mesler at: bci@lcc.edu, or click here for other contact information.

For examples of such successful preservation practices in Michigan, check out the following links:

The Bridges of Bridgeport/Frankenmuth

Historic Bridge Park

HistoricBridges.org

 

BHC Pic of the Week Nr. 58

Following up on my last Pic of the Week post, we have this week’s pic which is symbolic. With this bridge, I completed my series on historic bridges that were built along the Motorway 72 between Hof (Bavaria) and Chemnitz (Saxony). Consisting of the Koditz, Pirk, Pöhl, Reichenbach, Wilkau-Hasslau and this last bridge, the Friesenthal Viaduct located in the south of Plauen west of the exit Plauen-Ost, all six bridges were built between 1935 and 1940, of which half of them were left uncompleted for many years and it wasn’t until 1990, when the Motorway 72 was fully restored that it became a fully-functional throughway, where to this day, tens of thousands of cars, trucks and other utility vehicles use this mainly four-lane expressway, crossing these six viaducts and dozens of overpasses daily.

This last bridge I photographed has a unique story and some primary concerns on top of that. To better explain the bridge’s story, I produced a video with some commentary, which you can listen and watch here:

 

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipP1W8CmoaPyhgUshi7YKayQxbqkAXfId9nzaUTV

One of the bridge’s uniqueness comes from the various colors of bricks used for building (and reconstructing the bridge. Any ideas what type of brick was used (from which minerals)?

 

BHC Pic of the Week Nr. 57

The 57th pic of the week takes us to the second to last bridge I photographed along the original Motorway A 72 between Chemnitz and Hof (the last one will come in the next pic). This one is located east of Plauen and has a unique history. The Pöhl Viaduct is a seven-span stone arch bridge that was built from 1937 until its completion in 1940. The 232-meter long viaduct once spanned the valley of the River Pöhl near the village that bore that name, as well as the neighboring villages of Altensalz and Neuensalz. What was once a viaduct spanning a valley became a viaduct spanning a lake, as the Pöhl Reservoir (in German: Talsperre Pöhl) was created in 1964. The project took seven years and included the relocation of residents from Pöhl, the dredging of the valley and lastly, the construction of the dam on the north side of the reservoir as well as two dams and locks at Alten- and Neuensalz.  This pic was taken from a boat, as we were on a boat tour along the Reservoir. The viaduct is difficult to photograph due to a lack of access from land. Therefore, it is recommended to spend 13 Euros and enjoy the boat tour that lasts an hour and gives you a brief look at what a person can find along the Reservoir. After all, one will never get an opportunity to photograph a bridge crossing emerald green water.

By the way, where did that emerald green water come from, anyway? 🙂

 

:  The Reservoir Pöhl can be accessed by exiting either Treuen or Plauen-Ost. The area provides great opportunities to go swimming, (sail-)boating or hiking. There are many campgrounds nearby where one can camp while enjoying the views.

 

 

BHC Newsflyer 9 July, 2019

Merill Road Bridge in George County, Mississippi. Photo taken by James Baughn in 2015

Listen to the podcast with all the headlines and commentary on the UNESCO World Heritage being given to the Ore Mountain region here: https://anchor.fm/jason-smith-bhc19/episodes/BHC-Newsflyer-9-July–2019-e4is4a

 

Merill Road Bridge Restored: http://bridgehunter.com/ms/george/bh44065/

Historic Bridge Head/Gate restored at Alte Brücke in Heidelberg, Germany:

Article: https://www.rheinpfalz.de/lokal/artikel/heidelberg-tor-der-alten-bruecke-erstrahlt-in-neuem-glanz-eineinhalb-jahre-saniert/

Bridge facts: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Bridge_(Heidelberg)

Bear Tavern Bridge in New Jersey Relocated- Reused as a decoration to a new crossing

Article: http://mercerme.com/old-jacobs-creek-bridge-at-new-home-on-valley-road/

Bridge facts: http://bridgehunter.com/nj/mercer/bear-tavern/

 

Two Erie Canal Bridges to be Rehabilitated

Article: https://www.wxxinews.org/post/renovation-project-begins-historic-erie-canal-lift-bridges

            Bridge facts (Spencerport): http://bridgehunter.com/ny/monroe/4443230/

            Bridge facts (Fairport): http://bridgehunter.com/ny/monroe/4443220/

 

Key Railroad Crossing in Lausanne to be Rehabilitated with Crawler Cranes: https://www.suedostschweiz.ch/aus-dem-leben/2019-07-05/bruecke-in-lausanne-wird-mit-groesstem-raupenkran-europas-saniert

 

Play depicting Kate Shelley now showing:

https://www.facebook.com/Kate-Shelleys-Bridge-202977743956361/

Information on Kate Shelley:  https://www.kateshelley.com/

 

Ore Mountains Receives World Heritage Award

  News article:https://www.dw.com/en/unesco-declares-erzgebirge-region-a-world-heritage-site/a-49497680

            Author’s comments can be found in the podcast.

 

Chapter 648: Kintaikyo Bridge (錦帯橋)

The Flying Tofu

Kintaikyo Bridge (錦帯橋)

Arguably one of the most beautiful bridges in Japan, the Kintaikyo Bridge (錦帯橋). Famous for its beautiful wooden structure of 5 arches held by stone pillars taking you across the Nishiki River (錦川).

Although it is a pedestrian bridge, you are required to pay a small fee to cross over. I didn’t know this when I arrived and all set to go full blast with my camera, the lady on the right hand side at a wooden small booth greeted me and asked for 300 yen in exchange for a round trip ticket.

The reflection of the bridge on the waters is like a piece of art itself. On the river there was a crane! Difficult to see in the 8th pic, but it’s there! Because I arrived later in the evening just before the sun was setting, the ice cream shop called Musashi I wanted to…

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BHC Pic of the Week Nr. 56

To honor the reopening of a key historic icon, this Pic of the Week takes us back ten years and to Winona in Minnesota. During my visit in 2010, I took a ton of photos of the Winona Bridge, a 1942 cantilever through truss bridge that spans the Mississippi River at the Minnesota-Wisconsin border, carrying Highway 43. While I got a lot of angles and listened to some interesting stories about the bridge, including one from a gas station attendant who used to be a female wrestler (she even looked like one of my heroes, Sara Del Rey), this shot from the Wisconsin side was probably the best one of the bunch. Even with the new bridge running alongside the newly restored historic bridge, this photo vantage point would be highly recommended if you want to get a shot of just the cantilever bridge itself, even when lit with LED at night.

To learn more about the restoration of the Winona Bridge, click here to listen to the Newsflyer podcast and access the links and videos of the project.  More photos of the bridge plus facts about the bridge can be accessed here.

BHC Newsflyer 1 July, 2019

Podcast can be accessed via link: https://anchor.fm/dashboard/episode/e4ghc4

 

Links to the headlines:

 

Morandi Bridge Demolished:

Headlines

New Replacement span

Videos of the Bridge collapse and demolition:

 

Aetnaville Truss Bridge in Wheeling Faces Demolition

Sydney historic Bridge faces uncertain future after years of neglect

Historic Mangaweka Bridge may live on

 

Bridge Towers of the Remagen Bridge in Germany Needs a new owner:

Facts and history of the Bridge

Information on the Remagen Museum

News Story (in German)

 

Historic Bridge in Winona Reopens after a Three-year Renovation Project:

Facts and Photos of the Bridge

Information on its reopening

Video on the Bridge Project:

 

Historic Bridge Plaque in Napa Restored

Canton Railroad Bridge being Replaced

Help needed in solving mystery of railroad Bridge in Olbernhau (Mystery Bridge 116)

 

 

Travel Report: The Tower Bridge Exhibition, London.

Tower Bridge in London, one of several icons that one should visit, turns 125 this year. It’s one bridge that you can photograph from the outside. Yet what is on the inside? Check out this guest column and his visit to one of London’s most ironic treasures. 🙂

Leighton Travels!

May 2019. Forty years old, born in London and I’d never actually crossed Tower Bridge! What a scandal, but at least one I was finally putting to bed on this grey, chilly morning in the English capital. The Fairy was captivated the moment she saw it and, having also clocked the nearby London Bridge, felt a bit perplexed as to how entirely ordinary the latter looked in comparison. “Why isn’t it Tower Bridge is falling down?” I didn’t know the answer to this, but we both conceded that if something absolutely had to fall down, it shouldn’t be Tower Bridge. So maybe the London Bridge song was fine just the way it was.

The Tower Bridge Exhibition, London.

May 2019. I wasn’t content with simply a walk across Tower Bridge. I figured we should get the whole experience, so we headed into the office to pick up tickets for both…

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