Jacking up an overpass. That's not a jack... (imagine the Crocodile Dundee line)
 

I commute down Interstate 10 in central Texas. For several years they've been upgrading I10. I saw a notification on FB that an overpass was going to be closed (for at least 2 months) because they are going to jack it up. This overpass runs over 6 lanes of I10 with a median in the middle. It's not a small overpass. Holy moly, I'm almost (but not quite) interested enough to go watch Thu night.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1750713965.JPG
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1750713965.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1750713965.JPG

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1750713965.jpg

As of today, they don't have any jacks in the middle/median, but I think they will have to put some on either side of the columns supporting the overpass in the middle.

If you like watching paint dry go for it... its a painfully slow operation jacking structures such as this. I have been involved with (and paid handsomely for) jacking/realigning some large structures..

Likely this bridge is being jacked to allow reconstruction of pier caps and bridge seats to meet current standards for seismic etc...

To my eyes that is not an old structure, but it looks odd the there is so little clearance between the bottom of the beam and pier caps...

The jacking procedure may be so slight s to "break the dust" between the bearing and bridge seat...

Its equally impressive as hell and yawn inspiring..

Another interesting project I was involved with was replacing a bascule bridge in Long Beach NY for the LIRR

A barge was positioned under the lift span, and jacks and cribbing were brought to bear (At low tide)

When the tide came in the the span was cut loose and tugs took the span away..... The new span was installed in a similar fashion

So you're saying those aren't like the current car jacks, 3 pumps to full lift? Yeah, on top of the fact that it's slow, if they say "we're starting at 9pm Thu night, they may have 4-6 hours of crap to do before they even start lifting. I imagine that each jack is monitored to ensure that all jacks are lifting in unison, etc.... I'll be heading through the area Fri afternoon, so I'll get to see what has changed after 16-18 hours.

Which overpass?
I'll be out your way Saturday, doing a few observatory jobs between Cat Spring and the club dark site West of Columbus.

When I used to commute, I went over the Sellwood Bridge in Portland most days. It got replaced. Before they put in the new bridge, they moved the old bridge on one end to make room for the new one. Just sort of swung it a few degrees. The operation was incredibly slick and well executed. The bridge was closed for maybe two days to make this transition. Absolutely amazing.

Cool. We do have nice dark skies out here (maybe not super dark, but much darker than anything anywhere near Houston.

It's the overpass right before the Hwy-71-to-Austin exit after the main Columbus exit

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1750797906.jpg

I hate that drive from SA to Houston so much that when I had to do it twice in one week recently I took the 50 mile longer state highway route. I went from SA to Cuero, to Victoria, Sugarland, then Houston and returned the same way.

My sanity was much better upon arrival even though it added 45 minutes or so per leg. Cruising along out in the country with little to no traffic is much better than I-10 where there is constant construction. Plus you get to go thru China Grove and sing the Doobie Brothers song.

My commute is ~84 miles from downtown Houston straight down I10 (~3days/wk). That's why I get up at 4 in the morning and usually leave work between 11 and noon (meeting dependent) to come home. Door to door my drive is usually 1:06-1:08 in the morning, and in the afternoon 1:10 - 1:20. It could be worse.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1750801273.jPG
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1750801273.jPG

I've done this. it's fun, and kinda weirdly exciting. 100ton jacks all slaved together thru a computerized manifold. jacks move slow, but they have a short throw, so the crews hustle. they move it up...block and wedge it up. lower the jacks and then lift the jacks to gain more elevation, and repeat.

I think it is all to improve clearances for military?

I believe it's because of a major upgrade planned for I10. The upgrades started just west of Houston and are proceeding west. There's probably 30 miles of I10 to the east that's already been upgraded, move cars off, completely recreate the road bed, pave with concrete and 3 lanes wide instead of 2, new feeders/frontage, the whole works. This overpass is maybe 3-5 miles west of the section that's about 12-15 miles long that's currently under construction. The expansion is planned to continue through the area for another 10-15 miles at least past this overpass. I think if they are raising the road bed, they have to raise the over pass to maintain clearance under it.
THe dark green line is already all new concrete, wider Interstate. The dark red line is currently under construction. The blue line is already planned for widening. The pink line crossing the blue line is where the overpass is.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1750811954.jpg


But I'm just a random dude on the Internet, not a civil engineer, so I could be way off base.

This is the plan for that overpass

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1750812411.jpg

Just before Columbus, I10 passes over the Colorado river. THere's a large portion of the Interstate that is moving a couple hundred yards south, and they are building new bridges (there are 2 in that section).

I circled (sort of) the current path of I10 that is just going to disappear, I guess.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1750812736.jpg

In the middle of the 19th century, the entire city of Chicago was jacked up between about 5 and 15 feet. Wood frame buildings that were considered not worth jacking up were put on rollers and rolled out to the edge of town or to the suburbs. Sometimes entire blocks were jacked up at once.

I watched a YouTube video about this a while ago. A very ambitious & massive project to say the least.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raising_of_Chicago

SC that's incredible!

I had a project that lifted 6 bridges 3 feet higher.

I seriously think improving clearances for a mobile military was a motivating factor. on paper, it was called Sea level rise. but this was in Vallejo? way inland. haha..

the best part of these projects. it was an impossible task to keep the public out. they would walk on the bridge, jump up the 3 foot, freshly lifted bridge, walk across and jump down. it was like clockwork. they would go thru any fence. hahha...I quit caring.

This seems like a good time to put up a video of the 11' 8" bridge, (with a mellifluous Ozzy describing the phenomenon)

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/u_9rWH0p43A?si=ord25zOSsz-IiCNm" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

^^^^^

There is a bridge on the George Washington Parkway on the way to Mount Vernon. It is old stone and arched and one of the reasons trucks AND busses are not permitted on the Parkway (not that such prohibition stops tourist busses).

In 2019 I was heading home and saw this guy in a brand new delivery truck had decided to not obey the signs. Dude was sitting in the truck knowing his job was toast.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1750881045.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1750881045.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1750881045.jpg

The bridge:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1750881181.jpg

Dude, there are some kick ass roads out by Cat Spring

That's a beautiful bridge. The DOT signs don't do it any favors, but still very nice.

Over the past 2 nights, they've installed 2 more of the big jacks, either side of the pedestal support in the median. So now all of the required jacks are (I think) in place. I guess tonight will be prep, and then tomorrow night will be the big event or at least, the beginning of it. I'm going to be watching when I drive under in on both sides on Fri!

Very cool! That's what I'm most curious about, how much they're going to lift this bridge.
LMAO! 11'8" bridge is awesome, and the guy that installed the webcam should be given a medal or knighted or something.
The only way that could have been better was if it had been "Ozzyman". It would have been the ideal compilation for one of his "Destination FSCKed" videos.
Wow! Ouch!
yep. I love when we're going someplace that allows me to take some of the back roads around here.

When Robert Moses developed the Parkway system around NYC and Long Island in the 1930, they specifically built stone arch bridges to prevent buses from the inner city from being able to access Long Islands Parks and countryside (Robert Caro, The Power Broker) We still have many low clearance bridges on the parkways, which remain passenger vehicle only roadways.. occasionally an errant semi or truck access the parkways... the trucks always lose...Not only is the truck usually destroyed... The State Troopers show no mercy handing tickets to the drivers...

If you can find a contract number on those plan sheets you should be able to find the RFP for the scope of work.. I can't make out the numbers on the existing vs planned sections, but that alone can tell you a lot about the work...

Again... the actual jacking of the structure is yawn inducing.. Many people get overly excited So much prep work is done before Jacking pressure for each jack are calculated.. survey telltales placed... Each jack has a pressure gauge fed by a manifold with shut off valves for each jack..

One of the main concerns is not introducing unwanted stresses into the existing structure..I.E. if one jack is overpressure, and the surveyor shows the deck is not moving at one location... Did someone forget to cut a weld or release a keeper?

Avoiding making the deck look like a monkey saddle is important.

https://mathworld.wolfram.com/images...addle_1000.svg

^ There are just SO many occupations represented on PPOT.

The idea that Navin Johnson has invented eyeglass pushers, AND can do highway and bridge lifting calculations isn't lost on me.
Who knows what other kinds of jobs he might be telling us about someday?

Interesting stuff. The only trucks that I can understand hitting low bridges are trucks that have been rented and are driven by folks not used to driving something where you have to worry about the height.

But when you make a monkey saddle, that's when things get exciting! LOL

Its The "Optigrab"

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/i5jTH89HjTA?si=tmTg0Feq3SYMN6bF" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

:)

In case anyone is curious, I think the bridge ended up getting lifted at least 2-3'. As you drive under it, it looks like it was lifted 12-18", but I'm pretty sure that the bridge is quite thick and so it's like the signs on the interstate that don't look very big but are actually 4' x 5'.

WHat do we think this dimension is? Because I think the bridge was lifted 35-45% of that dimension. I'm assuming that dimension is probably several feet.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1752013799.jpg

The barrier on top of the bridge is typically 32"

The portion below the barrier appears to be equally as thick.

It looks like the construction is precast/post-tensioned beams say 24"

then a reinforced deck (6-12")

Something is not adding up in my eye regarding the picture... its hard to tell if the barrier was pre-cast, or formed in place..

but OA Id say 5-6'

is the bridge still in service?

OK, and thank you for the info. I'd say that the bridge was probably raised ~2' - 2.5' then (assuming 5-6' total thickness). I'll try to take a closer look when I come home tomorrow to see how much of the barrier is above the previous level.

No, the bridge is not in service. The announcement that I saw said that it would probably be out of service for several months (2 or 4, I think).

Both ends of the bridge are raised by quite a bit (2-2.5' I would guess) from the road bed on either end of the bridge.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1752019495.jpg

When I drove past yesterday, it looks like the bridge is currently lifted the height of the side barriers (32"). And it looks like they are working on building up the two earthen bits at either end of the bridge.

This is the latest update.