Link-Belt all the way

To paraphrase the aged aviator’s credo, there are old operators and there are bold operators, but there are no old bold operators at Beck & Bellucci, Inc. They just don’t work that way at the Franklin, New Hampshire headquartered construction company.
“Safety and caution are our operational watch words. That’s one reason we depend heavily on our fleet of Link-Belt cranes. But there’s more to it than that,” commented Project Superintendent Keith Korbet.

“Whenever possible, if we have an unusual lift, we pretest our equipment to the planned reach and load weight prior to making the pick. This was especially true under the circumstances we were in on this bridge. Our 150-ton capacity Link-Belt 238 HYLAB 5 was brand new and the calculations indicated that we would be close to maxed out on this lift.

“The total load, including the 6,000 pound capacity hook block and spreader bar rigging, weighed 28,000 pounds. This was to be a combination lift – the second heaviest plate girder and longest reach of the 49 girders to erect on this bridge. It weighed 12.5 tons (25,000 lbs) and was 88’ long x 5’ high. The piece of steel also had to be threaded into position between the crane and an existing pier and held there while we bolted it in place. We ran a static test the day prior to the actual lift and it’s a good thing that we had a first-rate machine and a highly skilled operator. Our projected working radius was estimated at 81 feet, but the actual distance turned out to be 85 feet with a boom angle of 41 degrees,” continued Korbet.

David Hurst is the owner of Beck & Bellucci, Inc. and is a hands-on owner of the company. Originally founded in Williston, Vermont, the company was moved to its present Franklin, New Hampshire headquarters more than a decade ago. Primarily a bridge builder working principally in New England, they are a long time owner of Link-Belt equipment. The Link-Belt 238 HYLAB 5 crane is their latest acquisition and complements a fleet of six other Link-Belt machines.

The new 238 HYLAB 5 has a working weight of 290,000 pounds as outfitted for the bridge over the Merrimack River. It is powered by a 6 cylinder Mitsubishi 266 hp 6D24 – TLA2L diesel engine. The crane used a combination ABC and sideframe counterweights totaling 140,000 pounds and was fitted with 110 feet of straight standard boom with no jib.

Beck & Bellucci, Inc. was the general contractor on the new two lane, ten million dollar NHDOT bridge and road relocation project on Route 4 Boscawen-Canterbury, New Hampshire town lines. The bridge is a replacement structure for the old existing one over the Merrimack River. The new 238 crane would be only one of four Link-Belt machines the bridge builder would have at work on the project at the same time.
The other cranes included a 100-ton capacity LS-218H with a 110’ straight boom, a 1983 100-ton capacity HC-218 truck crane with 110’ lattice boom and 40’ jib, and a 50-ton capacity Link-Belt RTC-8050 Series II rough terrain crane.

Several of the Link-Belt machines were used to drive 76’ to 80’ long H-beam piling for both temporary finger pier foundations and also to drive the H-beam pile that averaged 100’ long under the two abutments for the permanent structure.

Initial plans called to use a barge-mounted crane for the demolition of the middle of the old bridge, installation of the temporary bridge, and steel erection for the middle of the new structure. However, adverse river fluctuation had dropped its depth below a safe operational level, necessitating the construction of two temporary finger piers out into the Merrimack.

The old Hanna Dustin Memorial Bridge had deteriorated to the point of needing replacement and therein lay part of the contractor’s problems. Since the existing location was also to be that of the new structure, a temporary bridge would be needed for traffic rerouting before the old one could be demolished. A Mabey Bridge & Shore, Inc. structure, similar in length, height and lane width to the old bridge, was brought in and erected just to the north. Its length was 590 feet long and the deck was 30’ above the river. The temporary structure also had three piers and two abutments. Once the new permanent bridge was opened in August 2004, the Mabey bridge was removed and returned to its owner.

Overall right of way on the project was tightly restricted, especially because of environmental and scenic restrictions. This affected the actual demolition, construction, crane placement and materials storage. Care was paramount in removing the old bridge, one section at a time, so that no debris would fall into the river causing possible contamination, especially from some of the lead-based paint that was present.

The HC-218 Link-Belt lattice truck crane was used for much of this work. The bridge was an older design with two main beams, cross purling and floor beams. The contractor was able to demolish the floor beams and purloins, then cut the main beams into sections that weighed from 40,000 pounds up to 160,000 pounds and lift them out with the HC-218 crane.

The installation of the six drilled shaft foundations for the new structure commenced once the removal was complete and the temporary finger pier was built out from the east shore of the river. Beck & Bellucci built the finger pier, the H-pile foundations, fill and precast roadway decking.

The drilled shafts were subcontracted to New England Foundation Co., Inc. of Quincy, Massachusetts. These were eight feet in diameter and from 60 to 100 feet deep.

Concrete columns and caps were then formed and poured in place. Once cured, the erection and placement of the steel girders commenced. This is where the four Link-Belt cranes really proved themselves.

Operator John Waite picked and placed the 12.5 ton girder out 85’ with the new Link-Belt 238 HYLAB 5, followed shortly by Albert Terry, a 40-year veteran Beck & Bellucci employee, picking up a 30,000 pound girder (the heaviest single plate girder on the new bridge) with his Link-Belt LS-218H and placing it out 45 feet. Both men held the girders while the ironworkers bolted them together with splice plates. The Link-Belt HC-218 was placing cross bracing on the opposite side of the river unassisted while the Link-Belt RTC-8050 crane was off-loading steel bridge bracing from an incoming 18-wheeler. All this took place within a distance of less than 600 lineal feet and without interfering with each other.

It truly was a case of Link-Belt all the way.