A crawler crane working on a bridge job in Alabama overturned on Last Tuesday after an old or temporary bridge it was working from collapsed under its weight
Vertikal.net understand from local sources that the crawler crane, a 100 tonne Kobelco CK1100G, was lifting in a beam on the new bridge being built for State Route 46 near Heflin – halfway between Birmingham, Alabama and Atlanta Georgia. The new bridge runs alongside the one from which the crane was working, and it seems that the steel beams of the old bridge buckled, either while the crane was crossing or lifting from it, dumping the crane partly into the river.
The photographs they received indicate a substantial incident, with most of the beams for the new bridge destroyed. Thankfully no one was hurt or injured in the incident.
A spokesman for the Alabama Department of Transportation said a full statement on the incident will be issued next week following a full investigation.
Cranepedia Comment
If you take a look at the crawler crane, there is actually no counterweight at the rear of the crawler and the main boom is all the way up near the boom tip, hence it is likely it is trying to cross the river with the old bridge structure. However, it is not known if the engineers make any calculations that vibration from the crane during its movement might caused the bridge to collapse. Let’s wait for the investigation.
