Build. Span. Connect.

Rock Springs Image Gallery

: Breaking ground on abutments at Rock Springs Park.

: Austin Thompson installs a helical pile using a small excavator and our torque motor.

: Austin Thompson and Steve Howell break out the hand tools to clean up one abutment excavation.

: Steve Howell examines the “Plan B” anchor excavation, necessitated by soil refusal of helical piles due to hard clays.

: Ken Gilman and Austin Thompson finish tying rebar cage.

: “Plan B” deadman anchor is completed and ready for concrete placement.

: Pouring concrete for the anchor deadman.

: Compacting soils as we refill the anchor excavation.

: Prepped and ready for concrete placement.

: Steve Howell examines one of the Rock Springs abutments, post-pour.

: Aaron Nelson and Steve Howell strip forms, and shirts, following the abutment pour.

: Aaron Nelson, Austin Thompson, and Ken Gilman perform a construction survey on finished abutments.

: Austin Thompson (driving) and Steve Howell deploy one tower leg for installation.

: Towers and crossbeams are lifted into place on prepared abutments.

: Steve Howell and Ken Gilman complete tower installation.

: Austin Thompson, Ken Gilman, and Steve Howell broom, clean, and socket 1″ bridge rope mainlines.

: Mainline cables are lifted into their towertop saddles.

: Steve Howell, clearly pleased to have wrestled the mainlines into their saddles.

: Chainfalls are used to deploy superstructure material from skylines.

: Suspender bar / floorbeam assemblies are staged prior to installation.

: Ken Gilman, seated in our bosun’s chair, hauls suspender assemblies for attachment to the bridge mainlines.

: Suspender and floorbeam assemblies trace the span of the new superstructure.

: Austin Thompson and Ken Gilman lay stringers between floorbeams.

: Stringers and diagonal wind-bracing cables are installed.

: Austin Thompson and Ken Gilman set deck panels on completed superstructure.

: The Rock Springs Park Suspension Bridge, prior to installation of fencing and rails.

: Rock Springs Suspension Bridge, 2008

Sahale LLC is our common bridgebuilding heritage.

The Seattle Bridge Facebook Page is a good way to keep tabs on where we are and what we are doing.

Sound Bridge and Iron is our Ken Gilman’s own metalsmithing and bridge shop.

Ballard Forge is Steve Howell’s blacksmithing and riveting operation.

Nelson Treehouse and Supply is the outfit behind “Treehouse Masters,” and an old ally and collaborator in the battle against both gravity and shrugs of indifference.

Bridgemeister is the wikipedia of North American bridges.

Patrick O’Donnell is an old friend and occasional colleague who has collected photos of 1,056 (and counting) cable bridges.

A Practical Treatise on Suspension Bridges, Steinman, D.B., written in 1922, remains the cable bridge engineer’s most valuable reference.