SPOKANE – That stalled piece of the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge that is too heavy to drive across the state is getting a new hauler, the state Department of Transportation said Monday.
D.S. Brown, the company that assembled the expansion joint for the bridge, has chosen to use a new carrier, Omega-Morgan of Tacoma, to haul the expansion joint to the bridge site.
The plan now is to use three cranes to move the joint to a new trailer, then have the new load inspected and weighed today. Once it receives the necessary permits, the load will begin a slow journey to its new home at the bridge’s west anchorage, the Transportation Department said.
The 100-ton expansion joint, the first of two that will be installed on the new bridge, arrived at a weigh station on the Washington-Idaho border in mid-March.
The load was stopped after Washington State Patrol troopers found discrepancies between actual axle weights and the permitted axle weights.
The previous hauler, Big Boat Movers of Zavalla, Texas, was not able to reconfigure the load to meet state requirements, so D.S. Brown hired Omega-Morgan.
The expansion joint consists of rows of steel joined with neoprene strip seals. Acting like an accordion, each expansion joint is designed to absorb as much as 56 inches of expansion and contraction caused by temperature changes, wind, traffic or seismic motion.
In response to public interest, the Department of Transportation will place a GPS unit on a pilot car escorting the bridge part across the state. The public can track the journey at www. tacomanarrowsbridge.com.
The second joint has been parked in Sioux Falls, S.D., waiting for the problems to be fixed.
The joint stalled in Spokane was hauled across five states before being stopped March 24 after entering the state from Idaho.
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