154 Underbelly
Photo by John Wiley
Photo by John Wiley
Photo by John Wiley
Scroll through the above photos
By John Wiley
Driving under the Hwy.154 bridges near 101 where the jackhammers have been relentlessly rattling, I paused to investigate. Ed's informative "Highway 154 Bridge Repair" article got me even more curious. The main thing this massive project is about, according to a job supervising engineer on site, is raising the guard rails! Ignoring warning signs, cyclists and pedestrians use the bridge but the rails are the old standard 24" high. They'll soon be the new 36" height and wider (9" - presumably stronger but making the bridge deck slightly narrower!). They're also hacking notches into all the abutments, that will each hold a monster steel reinforcing beam. As "tagdes" commented on Ed's earlier item there's some "reactive aggregate" in the concrete, so at least the rails will lack that cosmetic defect. Here are two pics of the abutment notching process, and one also showing the old rail removed.
17 Comments
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Jul 25, 2022 11:58 PMTagdes, I didn't notice the Mirage or Hawker Hunter but kinda hijacked the thread myself mentioning all the military. In addition to the four listed I tracked V22s, a flock of low/slow unidentified (probably helos or v22s with ADSB ID turned off) over Pendleton. Several of the C130s and C17s had come from the East coast. Hunter Liggett(sp?) was buzzing, and three aircraft were doing grids offshore - SW of the Channel Islands, off S.Nicholas, and SW of San Diego. Several smaller jets (command & control?) flew out to the islands after those two had been flying grids for a while. Hopefully just a large exercise, but maybe Russian or Chinese subs? Just happened to notice the P8 headed this way while looking at traffic over the Oak fire near Yosemite. Speaking of which, either it had died down some early this afternoon or the big aircraft were called elsewhere trying to nip a new fire in the bud. At that time only two Tracker size fixed wing and a small collection of helos working for the spotter plane. I've been away from the computer all day, but look forward to seeing if there's still military action tomorrow.
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Jul 26, 2022 03:24 PMWell, when the Ruscists are rattling their nuclear sabers, it's a good idea to have your E-6 jockeys ready to TACAMO.
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Jul 26, 2022 11:14 AMAn E-6B is flying oval patterns farther out from the border than the plane (C-130 if I recall) that was orbiting out there yesterday. I figured (hoped) it was training, but haven't noticed anywhere near the level of military flying SoCA before.
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Jul 26, 2022 12:08 AMChinese subs very rarely venture far from home waters. It's even rare nowadays for Russian subs. The ATA jets do a lot of EW training, most likely carrying pods that simulate enemy missile radar seekers and making runs on ships, or simulating enemy jamming systems and making runs on E-2D aircraft or EA-18G aircraft.
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Jul 25, 2022 12:39 PMReactive aggregate in structures is much more than a cosmetic defect.
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Jul 26, 2022 05:35 PMThanks, found it...the H2Fly is Hydrogen and the H55 is solar...
I am familiar with Joby Aviation, electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft
https://www.jobyaviation.com/
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Jul 26, 2022 11:35 AMActually, the H2Fly & H55 are probably a combination of the hydrogen a/c I dimly remembered from a 7/22 AOPA article and I'm not sure if either is a VTO. The H2Fly ckaims 380nm on 20 pounds of hydrogen, with refueling taking 6 minutes. The stated plan for it is a 40 seat 1k nm commuter. Surely fixed wing. The eco problem would presumably be carbon neutral hydrogen sourcing.
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Jul 26, 2022 06:32 AMJohn, what is the name of the company making the hydrogen powered Vertical Takeoff UAM ?
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Jul 25, 2022 11:46 PMScary, but presumably still w/in load limits? I recall asking why they didn't widen it, and think he said something about how they'd looked at myriad options and decided to go with this. Maybe a 10-20 year stopgap until there's more development in the foothills and that traffic adds to the limited capacity of the pass? Right now it seems like to/from the valley plus 101 "shortcut" traffic are the main bottlenecks, and will be unless (until?) 154's 2-lane the whole way. That seems like it would be a very expensive shortcut. Plus, maybe in 10 years more people will be using Lyft that actually lifts - as in Urban Air Mobility (UAM) aka Un(wo)manned Aerial Vehicles on call. There's a new hydrogen powered Vertical Takeoff UAM at Oshkosh right now that goes several hundred miles on two gallons. Plus of course Self Driving Cars that could improve traffic flow and reduce accidents (if they can avoid the remaining crazy human drivers ;)
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Jul 25, 2022 05:10 PMYes, the Israeli copy of the Mirage 5. Wish I'd have known, would have like to have seem up close and slow. But I did photos of them back in the day when the originals were flying out of the Dordogne one with the afterburner on.
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Jul 25, 2022 04:25 PMThere are IAI Kfir C2 and Hawker Hunter aircraft from the Airborne Tactical Advantage Company flying locally:
https://lompocrecord.com/news/local/fighter-jets-flying-out-of-santa-maria-to-train-military-pilots/article_ff5a402b-0ba7-5101-8a2d-becbb35c2418.html
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Jul 25, 2022 03:33 PMJohn, not to be a thread jack, but did you see the Mirage and then the Hawker Hunter flying over us for the last two days.
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Jul 25, 2022 03:28 PMAfter we marked and measured them for movement they were epoxied over the cracks to keep the rust out. This was regarding the rebar also in the abutments, not just the girder I beams.
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Jul 25, 2022 01:38 PMI was involved with litigation over metal I beams imbedded in Concrete overpasses. when you see the rust bubbling the concrete out, it has lost all its "retaining" properties for the guard rail.
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Jul 25, 2022 01:24 PMLots of military air (C17s, C130s, P3, P8, etc.) had me distracted just now. So R.C., tell us more about the defect. Maybe the engineer who told me that doesn't know or was trying to hide a danger? I wondered if weak concrete was related to adding the support beams, but looking at the work it may be to supplement the original abutments with those big supports they're installing. Massive auger is boring holes outboard of the bridge supports, with heavy rebar in place. Perhaps a quake upgrade? Anyway, if the concrete were weak it doesn't seem like they'd be adding support to the span ends.
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Jul 25, 2022 09:35 AMSuch a surprise to find out it's all about simply raising the concrete guard rail height another foot! I'm so glad the engineer happened to be there, AND that he took a moment to explain. The job is presumably outlined in detail somewhere on countless documents, but his summary was sure a helpful alternative. Was anyone else thinking they were adding another lane or at least a bike lane?
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Jul 25, 2022 08:42 AMThanks for this information.....