wiredinUSA January 2012

INDEX

MAKING THENEWS

New cables for Washington Bridge

The George Washington Bridge is to undergo cleaning of its four main cables and, for the first time inhistory, have all of the 592 vertical suspender ropes replaced.

bridge’s main cables to the roadway, can be replaced at the same time without destabilizing the span. Each of the bridge’s suspender ropes weigh 1,500 to 10,000 pounds, depending on their length. The suspension wire will be replaced in stages and is expected to be completed in eight years. The next phase of repair planned for 2013 will be to clean up the massive anchorages tying down the bridge’s foundation as well as to replace broken wires and replace the dehumidifiers in the anchor chambers. The bridge’s main cables will be cleaned by removing their current zinc-paste wrapping and adding a type of dehumidifier to the main cables.

Spanning the river to link New York City and New Jersey, the George Washington Bridgewas designedbyOthmar Ammann in 1923, and opened to traffic in 1931. Port Authority officials said the repairs are long overdue as bridges would usually have their wires replaced every 70 years or so. According to the Port Authority, no more than three of the suspender ropes, each with 283 wires stretching from the

wiredInUSA - January 2012

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