Gordie Howe International Bridge

GRR Spartan wrote:Once the Gordy Howe Bridge is complete the Maroun family is going to start maintaining The Ambassador Bridge to more than the bare minimums.

Fun fact.  Warren Buffett and the late Charley Munger later regretted passing on the opportunity for  Berkshire Hathaway to become majority or sole owner The Ambassador Bridge when they decided to sell their 25% interest to Matty Maroun getting out of the “bridge business” in the late ‘70’s

With the new bridge in place they would be able to shut lanes down or shut the bridge down entirely to perform maintenance.

On a related note the Mackinaw Bridge is scheduled to undergo a major maintenance with the roadbed being stripped down all the way to the trusses.

http://bridgestunnels.com/location/gordie-howe-international-bridge/

Some history leading up to the GH bridge from.a technical journal.

It really amazes me that those two scrawny-looking towers can support that deck (with the help of the cables). Sheeeit, I would bet D Wags' leg is stronger than one of those towers.

Floyd Robertson wrote:It really amazes me that those two scrawny-looking towers can support that deck (with the help of the cables). Sheeeit, I would bet D Wags' leg is stronger than one of those towers.

There is far more to those towers than that which meets the eye.

They extend, below grade, all the way to bedrock, over 100 feet down, so they have the weight and leverage to hold them straight up & down.

They are hollow, with the inner box's being high grade steel, to which the cables attach.  The cables on on side of each tower are matched up with the cables on the other side of the same tower, thus the weight of the bridge on one side of each tower is balanced with the weight on the other side of the tower.  This is called cantilevered and is used in some form in many major bridge construction when suspended roadways are used. (It was a failure to maintain equal cantilever weight which caused the column failure during the construction of the Zilwalkee bridge.)

So like a giant tinkertoy the towers are maintained in place by the geometry of the entire bridge.

Was leaving Trader Joe's in Northville last night. Coming down the hill, I was surprised to notice that I could see the bridge. When I flew over it a couple months ago, it didn't look like it would be much bigger than the bridge in Toledo, but man. From a distance it looked like it towered over everything.

CaptainSlow33 wrote:Was leaving Trader Joe's in Northville last night. Coming down the hill, I was surprised to notice that I could see the bridge. When I flew over it a couple months ago, it didn't look like it would be much bigger than the bridge in Toledo, but man. From a distance it looked like it towered over everything.

The towers are over 700 feet above grade, which means they are taller than most of the buildings downtown, which I think you can also see from Trader Joe's on a clear day.  Once they start lighting it up at night it should be clearly part of the skyline of Detroit & Windsor.

As noted above, it will be the largest bridge of its type in North America.

This thread needs this. Still the best espn commercial

Floyd Robertson wrote:It really amazes me that those two scrawny-looking towers can support that deck (with the help of the cables). Sheeeit, I would bet D Wags' leg is stronger than one of those towers.

What amazes me is they can line the two ends up after coming from a significant distance. I’m so dumb I can barely connect my two index fingers.

tGreenWay wrote:

Floyd Robertson wrote:It really amazes me that those two scrawny-looking towers can support that deck (with the help of the cables). Sheeeit, I would bet D Wags' leg is stronger than one of those towers.

What amazes me is they can line the two ends up after coming from a significant distance. I’m so dumb I can barely connect my two index fingers.

Surveyors and GPS can get it close enough to get it to line up with one or two smacks from a hammer, if that's even necessary.