New bridge beams installed over the Fifteen Mile Creek in Lincoln

below: Aug.30, 2010 - heading eastbound along the QEW near Grimsby, this escorted over-size-load truck is carrying a massive concrete beam, which is part of a bridge construction project over Fifteen Mile Creek, located just east of Charles Daley Park in Lincoln, Ontario.

above: Aug.30, 2010 - the truck hauling the long concrete beam arrives on the North Service Rd., on the west-side of the new bridge construction, as seen from inside the front entrance to Charles Daley Park. Note: that is one beam, on one truck seen above -  not two!!

The North Service Rd. has been closed for several months, since about July, while the old bridge over Fifteen Mile Creek was torn down and new abutments were built on the east and west side of the creek. On Aug.30, several trucks with these massive beams lined up on the west-side of the N.Service Rd., and more were arriving, bringing a total of ten of the masive beams, which were about a hundred feet long.

above: Aug.30, 2010 - the beams, still on their trailer wheels, were all lined up along the road, to the west (to the right) of this massive crane, the "Mammoet", which was set up on the west-side of the creek, on the N.Service Rd., just above the newly-built west-side bridge abutment. The Mammoet here is seen in its resting position; the top end extends several sections higher when it is in action hauling a load.

above: Aug.30, 2010 - looking in the upper-left at the newly-built east-side abutment of the bridge over Fifteen Mile Creek (the huge crane is located behind, and to the right, on the west-side).

Note the make-shift bridge for workers to cross the creek.

Also note the short round concrete columns sitting in the water on both sides of the creek - these were the old supports for the previous bridge; the new abutments, as can be seen, are further back, higher up, and much larger than the old ones were.

At the far right distance is the bridge carrying the west-bound QEW over Fifteen Mile Creek.

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below: Aug.30, 2010 - same location, the east abutment is at the left, the west abutment is seen at the right. The site is ready for the beams to be placed across the creek the next day.

above: Aug.31, 2010 - the same view as previous above; by next morning, nine of the massive beams had already been laid across the creek, allowing workers to cross above for the first time. Note a worker also crossing the creek using the temp bridge below!above: Aug.31, 2010 - the cables from the Mammoet hang slack after having delivered a beam into place. The beam now seen was the second-last placed into position; the last beam, seen in the below video, will be lowered into position beside it, closest to the camera; its west end will sit on the abutment where the two workers are at the right.

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below: Aug.31, 2010 - Video of the last concrete beam being placed on the North Service Rd. bridge over Fifteen Mile Creek.

The actual installation of each beam, from being lifted off the truck to being placed on the bridge abutment, was astoundingly quick, less than five minutes, in fact, as can be seen in the main single-take on the video.

A concrete beam, still on its trailer wheels, would be positioned on the roadway beside the Mammoet. It would then be hauled up, off the trailer, by the Mammoet (seen fully-extended) using cables attached to each end of the beam. The Mammoet lifted the beam off the truck, and then the Mammoet rotated from west to east, moving each beam in almost a horizontal side-swing over the creek; the beams were positioned to touch down into their place on the east-side abutment first, then they touched down onto the west-side abutment.

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