Springfield bridge replaced

The new bridge at the Fellows Gear Shaper plant in downtown Springfield is finally in place after three tries and two different cranes.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20110827/NEWS02/708279929

Published August 27, 2011 in the Rutland Herald
Springfield bridge replaced

By SUSAN SMALLHEER

SPRINGFIELD — After more than a week of trying, workers were able to move the 100-year-old Fellows Gear Shaper footbridge and put in its place a replacement bridge Friday morning.

Construction workers from American Steel and Precast Erectors, subcontractors for One Hundred River Street LLC, the new owners of the old factory building, had the old bridge up and out of the way by 9 a.m., and the new bridge in place shortly after 10 a.m.

It was the early watcher who got the photo or video. Work had been suspended Thursday afternoon after more than eight hours of moving the 300-ton, 210-foot-tall crane into place and assembling it.

Engineers managing the swap determined there wasn’t enough time to complete the work that day.

Townspeople and local historians who had lined up for days waiting for the giant crane to lift the old bridge off its abutments were back at their places and cheered when it was finally moved.

“It went off without a hitch,” said Bruce Johnson, general manager of SAPA-TV, the local public access television station, who had been on the scene filming for all four days.

Johnson said that once the crane started lifting the old bridge, it didn’t take long to get it up and over the Black River to a location on River Street.

Construction workers had to bring in a larger crane after the first crane couldn’t do the job last week.

Susan Whitcomb Foster of Springfield said Friday morning the new bridge was one of the most positive developments in town in years.

“I think it was very cool,” Foster said. “It was the most exciting thing in town in quite a while.”

The bridge replacement was one of the most visible — and closely watched — aspects of the ambitious $13 million renovation project, which has been years in the planning stages.

One Hundred River Street, a Washington, D.C., corporation, is renovating the old machine tool plant to house a variety of businesses and offices, with its anchor tenant Springfield Medical Care Systems.

The new silver-painted steel bridge replaced a rusty iron bridge, which was erected on the frozen Black River and hoisted into place many years ago.

The bridge was used by executives at Fellows Gear Shaper, which later was sold to a Connecticut-based firm and called Fellows Corp. In the 1960s, the company built a new factory in North Springfield, leaving the downtown location largely vacant for years until the building was given to the town.

The town, in turn, gave it to Precision Valley Development Corp., which for years ran the sprawling building as a home for offices, industrial start-up companies and even a dance studio.

Jeanice Garfield and her two grandsons watched all day Thursday and were there Friday morning. She then took the boys out for breakfast in hopes that by the time they got back they would see the new bridge being moved.

“We missed it,” Garfield said. “But seeing the crane operator move the old bridge this morning … it was such a delicate operation. We were in awe.”