A lot has happened since my last post on the bridge. All of the footing and abutment boxes have been set in place, precisely aligned, and at the exact elevations.
The cement was then poured into the boxes. Luckily, the ice was so thick on Walsh Lake that we were able to drive the 3 cement trucks right out onto the inlet, saving us significant time.
The crane will be onsite tomorrow morning to lift the bridge sections into place. The current weather will create an interesting challenge, as there is a foot of water on top of the ice. Once the pieces are in place, they will be properly aligned, plumed, and welded together. The deck, where you will walk and drive over, is a tray system. The tray will then be filled with concrete, once the night time temperatures are above freezing. The final stone work over the top of the concrete tray and connection points will then take place.
As far as the golf course goes, it’s literally a river, lake and/or pond right now, depending on where you’re standing. This week, we shoveled troughs in the approaches, in anticipation of the quick melt. Once the water starts to melt on the greens, we want to get it off the approaches and into the roughs as quick as possible, to prevent it from backing up, and refreezing at night. Impressively, some approaches have over 3 feet of snow. In the picture below, of 1 approach, these 3 foot stand pipes are over the drain inlets. We shovel large circles around these pipes, and a line in between them. This was a herculean task, and took us two days. Even as of Tuesday, there was water already flowing underneath the snow. We’ll monitor the situation and keep the water moving as we melt over the next several weeks.
By the end of next week, there might not look like much snow is left around the clubhouse or parking lot, where the ground heats up more rapidly, but on the course, there are several areas with over 6 feet of snow. The exciting part is that this looks to be the start of Spring, and we deserve it after the winter we’ve had. We’re not out of the grasps of winter yet, but we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Mike Manthey
Let’s all say a little prayer that that light at the end of the tunnel isn’t a locomotive bearing down on us!
Keep up the great work, Super Mike (& Co.)
Agreed!
Thanks Dan,
M.
Mike – thanks for the pics. A challenging winter for construction, the turf, and your crew. Much has happened to the snow cover in the past two weeks. I assume the turf is saturated with lots of water to run off or slowly soak in.
Any early evaluation of turf conditions? Any wild guess when the course will be dry enough for play?
Bruce,
It was quite the winter. Didn’t feel like an off-season for us! Hartman Co. has been fantastic, and worked through some difficult situations.
It’s very wet out there. Some areas still have a few feet of frost. Early evaluations look very promising. We have a few weeks until we’re ready for traffic and maintenance. It won’t be long now!
M.