Last week construction crews lowered a 300’ long, 1.2 million pound steel span of the old westbound Interstate 90 Dresbach bridge 70 feet down to a barge in the Mississippi River. This was the second span to be lowered. Last month, crews lowered the eastbound span of I-90. Traffic on the river’s navigational channel west of La Crosse, Wisconsin, was closed while the beam was lowered. To lower the beam, crews used a frame lowering system which used jacks to lower the span at a rate of 30 inches each 15 minutes.
Westbrook was on site for the lowering of the eastbound span.
At the piers, the girders are 22’ deep, which are some of the deepest steel bridge girders in the country. Two 10’ long pieces of the girders will be preserved at Purdue University’s Steel Bridge Research, Inspection, Training, and Engineering Center, S-BRITE.
If you’d like more information about the progress of this project, “like” the Facebook page to stay up-to-date. https://www.facebook.com/DresbachBridge/
