The Patroon Island Bridge, a major crossing of the Hudson River in New York, USA, has been in service since 1968. The bridge connects New York’s Albany and Rensselaer counties, and consists of ten spans. Seven spans are considered the main spans and consist of steel trusses and concrete decks. The other three spans are considered approach spans, which are supported by plate girders. The bridge is one of the busiest in the country, with more than 70 000 people travelling over the 1 795ft (540m) long bridge on a daily basis.
A recent project to repair the Patroon Island Bridge presented a unique challenge to contractors. A lifting solution was called for that could place a crane on a barge below the bridge, while traffic continued to flow above. In the end, a Grove GHC75 telescoping crawler crane provided the solution.
Halmar/A. Servidone – B. Anthony, a joint venture contracting team consisting of Nanuet, New York-based contractor Halmar International and Castleton, New York-based A. Servidone Inc/B. Anthony Construction Corporation (ASIBACC), were tasked with the tricky set of repairs. The team chose the GHC75 for the project because of its stability and maneuverability.
According to Tom Valenti, engineer for ASIBACC, the 75 USt capacity GHC75 struck the perfect balance between the stability of a crawler crane and the telescoping boom of a rough terrain crane. “Any crawler crane will keep you balanced on the water due to its wide treads, like those of a tank,” he says. “What makes the GHC superior to the average crawler is its telescopic boom. We can move what we need to move with a simpler, more direct motion. There’s no need to swing the boom and sacrifice stability.”
The crane’s primary function was the erection of structural lifting towers, which had the company place steel piers in the water on which the bridge bearing sits. The GHC75 has the ability to pick-and-carry at 100 percent of its load chart and can swing loads a full 360 degrees. This makes it ideal for barge-mounted applications, as it can lift from any angle at which the water below positions the barge, and then the crane can lift or place loads from or to any location around the crane, providing maximum versatility.
“This was a project where we needed to thread the needle,” Valenti says. “We had to move 6 USt steel beams up to 80 ft in the air with precision, all without disturbing the barge. The crane’s 118 ft boom and low center of gravity allowed us to do just that.”
The compact 42 ft 6 in long by 10 ft 6 in wide footprint of the GHC75 also led to unanticipated savings for the company. Valenti explains that the company usually has to hire a tug boat to move around the pier to get the crane in position during bridge construction, but thanks to the compact nature of the GHC75 and its crawler crane maneuverability, they were able to service the bridge from a single position on the river, which resulted in considerable cost savings.
The project began in June of 2013 and was completed in December of 2015.
