The rebuilding of the Daniel Carter Beard Bridge continues, nearly 2 months after the southbound approach was damaged in a fire.
The president of the Bowling Green, Kentucky, company making replacement beams says they have all the steel they need for new girders and connection pieces. Derek Clemons of Stupp Bridge says it's not one of their larger projects.
“It’s probably one of the faster turn-arounds I’ve seen on an emergency project,” he says. “Especially when you’re building girders, as in this case. But again, it’s something we’re very familiar with and can execute very quickly.”
Clemons says the fire beneath the bridge had to have burned hot. “Steel is a very robust material, so to have created the situation, they would have reached at least 600° Fahrenheit and probably closer to 2200° Fahrenheit if I had to guess,” he says. “Any steel, any material is not going to withstand those types of temperatures.”
Clemons says they're quite familiar with the work they need to do. He says his company has built beams for about 750 similar bridges.
“The only thing that I would say is maybe out of the norm is the time frame,” he says. “Normally on a new structure, we’re working anywhere six months to two years out, depending on the size and complexity of the bridge. In a case like this though we want to be able to react very quickly to make these sorts of repairs.”
Clemons says the replacement beams should all be delivered to Cincinnati by the middle of January, and ODOT expects the southbound lanes to the bridge to be reopened in March.
