Footspan Placed in One Pick At Phoenix Convention Center
In a single pick, and after removing several traffic lights, crews placed a 150-ft-long prefabricated steel pedestrian bridge at the Phoenix Convention Center on Jan. 22. The bridge connects a new west facility and a north facility being replaced and expanded.
A 440-ton crane performed the 100-ton pick from a 45-ft-deep pit at the level of the lower exhibit hall. The 30-ft-wide bridge was completely prefabricated by Schuff Steel Co., Phoenix, in a staging area six blocks away, says Derek M. Beaman, principal with Magnusson Klemencic Associates, Seattle, the designer for the $600-million expansion of the convention center, now in Phase 2. "They trucked it to the site in the middle of the night and they had to take down the traffic signals in their path" he says. "It was erected in a single pick using a mobile crane that was still in the bottom of the hole." The bridge�s top chord now rises 77 ft above grade.