August 2001 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Administration). This rail was developed to provide an aesthetic pleasing railing on applications where bridge aesthetics is important. In fact, St. Joseph County has instituted a policy of using this rail on the bridges that cross the St. Joseph River in the City of South Bend. This railing, while not identical to the existing railing, has many of the same features and will present an appearance quite similar to the existing. 3. Renderings of the proposed bridge rail were given to staff members of the Commission and Historic Landmarks Foundation. There was a concern that the proposed rail was different in that the top of the vertical elements were not higher than the top of the rail. It was requested that the railing be modified to provide the nubs above the rail at these vertical elements. • We believe that we can modify the railing detail to provide this extra nub at these locations without altering the crash worthiness of the rail. The vertical post will align above each floorbeam as they do now. Rendering will be revised showing both the view from the stream and the view from above. Design plans will be modified to reflect this request. 4. The Historic Preservation Commission recommended reinstallation of the plaque in the same location as existing. End posts for the concrete bridge rail must be removed like the railing due to the removal of the floorslab. The End posts of the bridge will be rebuilt to the same dimension as before with a possible exception in depth to be compatible with the proposed railing. The existing plaques will be removed, stored and re- installed in a manner similar to the existing. A special provision will be developed for this request. S. The Historic Preservation Commission recommended that if the existing bridge rail could not be re -used, then they would like to see the existing railing on the curved wings at the end of the bridge remain. • Since these walls are attached to the wings, we can leave these in place since we essentially keep the wings intact. The existing rail on the wings will meet the end of the End Posts as described above in Item # 4. Field inspections indicate damage to the railing on the northwest wing and that portion will need to be replaced. A special provision will be written directing the contractor to protect the existing wing railing and to replace the damaged wing with a railing of the same dimensions and shape as the existing wing railing. A question was raised whether it would be feasible to use a portion of the bridge rail to replace the damaged portion of the wing railing. Unfortunately, the bridge railing is straight - and the wing railing is built on a curve. It would not be possible to take a portion of the existing straight concrete railing and bend it to the radius of the existing curved wing railing. 6. A special provision will be written directing the contractor in the work to be done to repoint the concrete at the pier ends. This provision will point out the importance of preserving the shape of the original. The Contractor will be directed to perform measurements of pier dimensions at pier locations, which have less deterioration. He will then prepare plans for providing the same shape. Once this is done and approved, he will be allowed to begin his work. Unsound concrete will be removed before he begins the process of repointing to duplicate the shape.