Name: Moving a Wooden Covered Bridge
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A team scrambles to move a bridge across a rapidly rising creek.

Moving a Wooden Covered Bridge

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A team scrambles to move the 100-ton Old Blenheim Bridge—rebuilt after being destroyed by Hurricane Irene in 2011—as the creek beneath it rapidly rises. Loose roadway buckles under the bridge’s weight, causing it to nearly slide into the waterway. Can the team pivot the bridge in time to beat the flood?

A team scrambles to move a bridge across a rapidly rising creek.

Tech & Engineering

Moving a Wooden Covered BridgePublished October 10, 2018Onscreen: How do you turn a 100-ton wooden covered bridge?Gabe Matyiko: We’re gotta get into a really hard turn - a ninety degree turn. Just about as hard as you can go. And the harder we get onto the turn, the more you gotta keep those dollies heading in the right direction and in sync with each other. So you got the dollies in the front aiming straight towards the bridge and the dollies in the back going at a ninety-degree angle.Stop! Stop! Everybody stop.Jerry Matyiko: You should be heading right there!Gabe Matyiko: Dad, I can’t turn anymore—we’ll fall off the embankment.Narrator: Gabe has run out of road to turn… and the clock is ticking. With creek levels rising rapidly, they scramble to widen the roadway, near the front wheels.Gabe Matyiko: Alright, everybody ahead—go! Nice and slow, moving ahead. Right, let down!But the loose rubble underneath the roadway is close to collapsing.Let down—WHOA! Stop!Keep going and the bridge could slide into the river.Gabe Matyiko: I opened up the dollies, there’s inches to spare here…Narrator: At this angle, there’s simply not enough space to get the front wheels onto the temporary roadway. They’re stuck.Gabe Matyiko: What we’re doing is we’re going to hold this end stationary, while the back comes around. It’s just basically gonna pivot like that. Once we get to where we want to be, then we stop again, straighten everything up and continue across the bridge.Narrator: But making space to swing the rear of the bridge around won’t be easy. They need to shift tons of earth—and fast.Stan Graton: We’re limited with the real estate we have to work with, so it’s gonna be real tight…Jerry Matyiko: Go on ahead!Narrator: They slowly swing the rear of the bridge around to line it up with the roadway across the creek… Finally, with inches to spare… everything lines up.Gabe Matyiko: Alright, we’re gonna move ahead on three… One, two, three, let’s go!Graton: We’re on a roll now.Gabriel!!Jerry Matyiko: We got maybe about eight feet to go. We want to hit it on the button.Gabe Matyiko: It’s kind of a one shot deal scenario.Jerry Matyiko: Is that it?Gabe Matyiko: Little bit—give me a touch!I think we’re there.Gabe Matyiko: Whoa! Chock it up!Narrator: After an epic battle against the elements, stage one of the move is complete—the New Blenheim Bridge sits across the creek.

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Moving a Wooden Covered Bridge

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