MIFFLIN - Curious onlookers pulled up lawn chairs on the Mifflin side of the Juniata River Bridge construction project on Thursday to watch giant concrete beams being moved into place on what will become the access road to Mifflintown when the $16 million project is completed in
two years.
If they missed anything, the process would be repeated again and again, until five beams were placed on span 1 by the end of the day, completing the Mifflin side.
Article Photos
Sentinel photo by BUFFIE BOYER
After crossing the river, the beam is hooked onto a truck.
Next week, five more beams will be added to each of two more spans to complete the Mifflintown side.
Greg Sidorick, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation project manager, explains the somewhat rare maneuvering needed to deliver and set
the beams:
Two beams are moved by truck, one at a time, from Roaring Springs. The beam that left Roaring Spring at about 7 a.m. Thursday arrived in Juniata County after 11 a.m., exiting U.S. 22/322 at the Port Royal interchange.
The truck carrying the beam travels down Old Route 22, to the parking lot near the PennDOT field office, located in the Trustworthy Travel building. The truck pulls into the lot to get turned around, then backs onto the highway, where it is driven backward to the construction site in front of Tuscarora Junior High School.
After backing down the hill to the riverbank, the truck is met by a crane, which picks up the far end of the beam and places it on a temporary span, while the other side of the beam is still on the truck. The truck then pushes, while the crane pulls, the beam on the temporary span to the other side of the river, across a channel formed by a causeway built in the river.
On the other side of the river, the crane hooks the beam onto another truck (picture 1), which drives foward, until the other end of the beam gets across the river.
In tandem, the truck and crane move the beam to another crane. The beam is unhooked from the truck and hooks up to the second crane. Both cranes then "walk" the beam to span 1 (picture 2).
The cranes lift the beam and spin it around to position it onto the span (picture 3).
The cranes lower the beams onto span 1 (picture 4).
