Dominion Atlantic Railway Bear River Bridge
24 March 2012 4:02pm ADT
The decision has been made. It is now 2½ hours past high tide.
The tide has fallen too far, and the lifting of this plate girder span cannot be done
on this tide cycle. The A-frame hoist has been pulled up as far as possible, and
there is not enough working space for placing the chains attached to the lower end
of the slings. The heavy lift slings must be left hanging from the A-frame overnight,
while the sea surface falls about 23 feet – the tidal range is now close to the maximum –
to low tide at 7:43pm, then rises about 23 feet to high tide at 1:50am, then falls about
23 feet to low tide at 8:03am, and then rises about 23 feet to the next high tide in
daylight at 2:11pm tomorrow. These workmen must arrange things now so that
no damage is done while all this slow but unavoidable vertical movement is
carrying the hoist slings up and down in close proximity to the bridge span,
with nobody on site to keep watch in case there is an unforseen problem.
