UPDATE Wednesday afternoon February 15, 2012 What is a
Segmental Bridge Wikipedia which has a list of 16 Notable Bridges...... PMB2 will probably not be added to the list, nor will its finished name either. Page 6 of
this document highlights a Segment of PMB2
UPDATE Sunday evening, February 12, 2012
On the day of the accident my wife and I watched CBC evening news. They interviewed a fellow who was working under the bridge at the time. He would not give his name for fear of being fired. He stated that two sections fell into the water not one? I have talked to many others and nobody can confirm this, probably because they do not watch CBC? Did anyone else hear this? - Anonymous
More than one Segment, weighing in at 90 tonnes each?
From this photo, try multiplying that by a factor of eight!
Google search, found on page 4.
We've seen plenty of times of how the BC Liberals have refused to show the public the contracts on P3 projects. What was the criteria used to state just how many Segments would be, could be, carried at any one time when this Gantry was designed? You see, the thing here is its being admitted that there was one, but no one in the Press, has asked .... How Many, like in plural! Were there more than one? Only way to find out is for the Press to hire some divers and go "fishing".
More photos
--showing 11 segments being carried at one time---->
When the news broke on the Car radio on Friday, the first report said that a crane had collapsed on the Port Mann Bridge.... not the old one, the new one..... Why oh why would the Press think that the Public would need to be told that it was NOT the old Port Mann Bridge, seeing as how the NEW Port Mann Bridge is still under construction.
You'd think the powers to be would tear a page out of West Coast shipbuilders manual of how they handle building Victory ships, one after another. Shipbuilders call them Hull # ??? until just before the champagne bottle slams in against the bow, and then the named Ship so-and-so slides down the building/launch ways and into ... Burrard Inlet. In this particular instance, on Friday, the one segment weighing in at 90 tonnes was not a ship, no champagne required, but I bet you it had a component number like PBM2-195 without the word NEW.
A NEW bridge isn't a Bridge until its complete, so why not differentiate the two distinct structures by continuing to call the OLD bridge the Port Mann Bridge and then use the acronym of PMB2 until the opening day in late May of 2013 (after the provincial election) and the TOLLS start to be applied by whomever forms the next British Columbia Government.
The real problem here in the Press reporting, specifically in the Vancouver Province this morning, that the PMB2 is a REBUILDING project, which sounds just like the Sea to Sky Highway Improvement Project with its Shadow Toll, being picked via gas taxes at the pump. So why do those citizens, on either side of the Fraser River, at the PMB2, need to have their pockets picked by the BC Liberals via an up front toll snapping fee, twice a day if you're a commuter when the Sea to Sky highway is FREE? Not suggesting that there should be a toll on the S2S, but there should be a hidden Toll on the PMB2, that way those Americans would end up paying for their share of both Highway improvements.
The Christy Clark's PAB Max Logan spokesperson who is looking after the file on the PMB2 improvement project, makes the fine point of correcting the Press that it wasn't a crane that bent its knee, but a GANTRY, but even with that bit of reassurance why this last bit:
"the gantry is secure and there IS risk to the public."
I'd feel a whole lot safer driving the Port Mann Bridge, knowing that the gantry on the PMB2 is NOT a risk to the public. The fact that the gantry is leaning to the "South", doesn't necessarily mean that its leaning Down-river either. Perhaps the PAB could explain the consequences of a Gantry, leaning to the SOUTH, could it, might it, is there a possibility, of a dominoes effect happening here, up stream and knock out the Port Mann Bridge from the Gantry's perch on the PMB2?
.........There were no injuries, said Max Logan, spokesman for the rebuilding project.
A 90-tonne slab of concrete fell into the Fraser River, according to media reports.
The piece of equipment, which weighs 725 tonnes and was custom-made for the project to install premade sections of the bridge deck, is called a gantry.
"It's leaning to the south now," said Logan. "But the gantry is secure and there is risk to the public..........." Vancouver Province
To be absolutely clear here, the name of the reporter for this article is not included because there appears to be a conflict between the reporter and the caption writer for the photograph below of just where the Gantry is perched...."a yellow crane slipped off its blue track Friday on the OLD Port Mann Bridge.......".
Both copies, online and the hard copy, have the same story and the same photo (captioned incorrectly).
How is the public supposed to know the truth of what is happening on the IMPROVEMENT project called the Old Port Mann Bridge when ......... the Vancouver Province file name is this: http://www.theprovince.com/
Bridge+
repair+
equipment+
falters/6140587/story.html
So there you have it folks, the New Bridge has always been an Old Bridge Repair.
Journal of Commerce has an article and
plenty of photos.......
