Burkhalter Tackles Another Big Texas Bridge Project

Bridge arches on Texas project

COLUMBUS, Miss. — Burkhalter placed the twelfth and final concrete arch for Fort Worth’s new West 7th Street Bridge on Tuesday. Over the last month, Burkhalter crews transported the 300 ton precast arches from a nearby construction yard to the bridge site, where they lifted the arches and set them into place, with six arches along each side of the bridge.

The bridge, connecting downtown Fort Worth, Texas, and the city’s cultural district, is the world’s first precast network arch bridge. Last summer, Sundt Construction began casting the 163 foot long, 300 ton arches approximately one mile away from the bridge site. After each arch was cast, Burkhalter utilized a hybrid tower gantry system to lift, rotate 90 degrees to vertical and slide each arch into storage on the construction yard.

Beginning in May and working around road closures and additional construction processes, Burkhalter began the transportation, rigging and setting of the twelve arches. Each arch was transported from the construction yard to the bridge site via SPMTs, where they were then lifted, positioned and set onto concrete columns using two LR1400 cranes, each with superlift attachments.

The new bridge is a wider, safer alternative to its 100-year-old predecessor, and its unique design is highlighted by the twelve lit arches that rise over 20 feet above the roadway. A collaboration between the City of Fort Worth, Texas Department of Transportation and Sundt Construction, the bridge is scheduled to be complete in Fall 2013.

Burkhalter Rigging, Inc. is a specialized rigging, lifting and transport provider servicing the North and South American civil, power, petrochemical, offshore and marine industries. Burkhalter is headquartered in Columbus, Miss., with offices throughout the Southeast and Midwest United States.