Allison Needles: Record-setting bridge girders to cause lane closures on I-5 in Tacoma
News Tribune, Tacoma, Wash. 1/1/2021 Allison Needles, The News Tribune (Tacoma, Wash.)
Jan. 1 The new year will kick off with some overnight lane closures and detours on Interstate 5 in Tacoma.
The state Department of Transportation s contractor, Guy F. Atkinson Construction, will begin installing 30 giant bridge girders over the Puyallup River in Tacoma on Jan. 4 that will cause the disruptions.
One of those girders is a record-setting 223 feet in length and almost 9 feet high, weighing more than 246,500 pounds.
It s the longest prestressed concrete girder made in North America, according WSDOT, and is roughly the weight of a Blue whale and the length of a 747 airplane. The girders were made at Concrete Technology Corporation in Tacoma.