Bridge Demolition Pile Cutting Shear

The expertise and specialty equipment of Aggregate Technologies was used to complete the demolition of the Highway 84 bridge over the Sabine River, connecting Joaquin, Texas and Logansport, Louisiana. The haunched deck plate girder bridge was built in 1936 and replaced by a brand new parallel bridge in 2015. ATI’s task was to remove the concrete piles and caps in the eight bents. Each bent consisted of a 36×30” cap supported by five 20” piles reinforced with eight #11 square rebar.

A hydraulic shear with the automatic pin and gate was used first to cut free each cap.  One crane with two lines was used, one to place and hold the cutter on each pile, with the second line coming into use as the cap was being cut free.  The auto gate and pin was instrumental in getting the shear in place around each pile, eliminating the need to have men in a boat in a potentially hazardous location.  After the five pile cuts were completed, the cap was lifted onto the material barge and moved to shore for disposal and later recycling.

Once the cap was removed the cutter was lowered over each pile down to the riverbed, which had been previously excavated to the desired cut elevation.  The underwater cuts were made in about one minute each with no divers required, thus making the project safer over all.

All eight bents and forty piles (80 cuts – top below cap and bottom at riverbed) were removed successfully with zero incidents.  One more bridge structure removed safely by Aggregate Technologies.