First girder touches down on new OI bridge
After three days of fine attempts, crews with Lee Construction of the Carolinas laid the first girder for the second bridge to Oak Island Saturday morning.
Project manager John Keel said he was sorry crowds were disappointed Friday when the girder didn’t make it to its spot atop a concrete support.”But safety has to come first,” he said.
About 100 people have been watching progress from the street ends next to the bridge — their cars and bicycles lining Yacht Drive and NW 1st Street. Some even brought lawn chairs Friday as they settled in for a day of watching the action. But workers cannot move the girders when the winds climb above 20 mph, Keel said. With winds topping out at 27 mph earlier this week, crews have been working instead to get everything in place. They also went to “Plan B,” Keel said, which meant using a second crane to help hold the girder steady as it was swung from a barge in the water toward the shoreline.
They were on the job about 6:30 Saturday morning, and by 9 a.m. they were still pushing and pulling the girder into position. Two men at each end of the concrete piece worked in tandem to find the precise spot.
With the goal of setting three girders into place Saturday, one member of the crew said they’d likely be working until the sun went down.
For more on this story, check Wednesday’s edition of The State Port Pilot.
