High speed crossing in South Carolina

The contract for SC Route 9 Bridge over the Catawba River in Lancaster, South Carolina required the placement of 170ft bulb-tee beams weighing 200,000lb (91t). The beams are some of the longest ever erected in the state of South Carolina. In order to place the beams, United Infrastructure of Great Falls, South Carolina purchased a brand new 250USt (227t) 298 Series 2 lattice crawler crane, as well as a 298 HSL.

The new westbound bridge is being constructed on an aggressive 13-month schedule in the same location as the previous westbound bridge; both directions of traffi c are being carried on the adjacent eastbound bridge.

Only half of the 500 ft (152.4m) wide river could be blocked off at one time during construction with barge platforms. The two Link-Belt’s effi cient footprint allowed for greater river width, and also eased the logistics of barge placement.

Each crane used identical rigging consisting of 40 ft long, doubled-over nylon Kevlarreinforced slings rated at 200,000lbs each. With 100ft of boom in one crane and 120ft on the other, there was plenty of headroom to pick the beams off the existing bridge and place them on the new pier caps, or swing them 180° directly behind the crane to the storage barge for later placement.

The tandem lifts required operators Jeremy Talley and Brian Craig to synchronise their moves while lifting, swinging, booming, and lowering. They encountered no problems operating the large capacity Link-Belt 298 cranes; they had previously done similar lifts with United’s 110USt 218HSL lattice crawler cranes with smaller beams for the spans over the low-lying fl ood plains on each side of the river.

Equipment manager, Keith Ernandez said, “We have been working with our dealer, Pinnacle Cranes, for a very long time. It’s a relationship that makes us feel that we are being taken care of in all aspects with quick response times.

They stand behind the equipment they represent. Right now, and over the years, Link-Belt has been a very good product, so there is no reason to change.”