Bianchi Demolition, LLC, a nationally recognized demolition firm in Syracuse, NY, was recently awarded the demolition of the Onondaga Lake Bridge along the south shore of the lake. The bridge was built to carry traffic and pedestrians from the west to east. However, it also contained the 36-in. forced sewer main on the south side, which was the City of Syracuse's entire waste from the west side of the city to the metropolitan treatment plant.
Due to the forced main, there could be no vibration during the demolition, and each day, vibration monitors were set into place. If the forced main were to incur some sort of penetration or separation, the emergency outflow would deposit 3 million gallons of raw sewage into the lake per day.
The structure was built out of bridge steel with three rows of concrete panels for the decking. Each panel was 3' x 10' by 1-ft. thick and weighed approximately 6,000 lbs. The bridge was approximately 900 ft. long, and each of the three lanes had 300 concrete panels. The estimate for the project was calculated based on rigging and removing one panel every two minutes with an operator, hydraulic excavator and a laborer with nylon slings.
David Bianchi, managing partner for Bianchi Demolition, worked with Gregory Cveykus, Kenco's director of engineering and design, to assess the project's material-handling needs. They collectively opted to go with the Slab Lifter, primarily for the safety aspect. "Once we received the Slab Lifter and put it to work, we found it saved us a considerable amount of time and dollars," Bianchi states.
The Slab Lifter was maneuvered onto the concrete slab, then it was simply lifted and stacked. "By using the Slab Lifter, we removed panels using only a machine operator and excavator, without the need for additional laborers," says Bianchi. "It took just 15 seconds per panel for removal and placement. This calculated out to be an enormous time saver. It literally cut 7/8ths of the estimated time out. What was projected to take six weeks was accomplished in two and a half days."
