Moving a Thirty-eight foot Arch

Progress, Volume XII, Issue 2, 1 October 1916, Page 755

Moving a Thirty-eight foot Arch

An interesting piece of work was recently carried out by the Kress House Moving Company, Los Angeles, in connexion with a street widening project. To give the additional width required it was necessary to move a 38-ft. stone arch, which with its abutment piers, flanking footway arches, &c, forms a piece of cobblestone masonry 105-ft. long. The portion moved was 90-ft. in length, extending from one abutment of the main arch to the end of the opposite footway arch, which was displaced about 6-ft. from the original alignment. There was no reinforcement in the masonry. The main base or support for the structure in moving consisted of two 20-in. by 20-in. timbers 60-ft. long placed on each side and stretching along the arch piers and the wing wall. The weight of the piers was transferred to these timbers by steel needles composed of I-beams and rails. The main arch was carried by two 24-ft. lengths of plank laid against the intrados and supported by A-frames resting on the main timbers. Similar A-frames carried the footway arch which had to be moved, the other one having previously been cut loose alongside the main pier. When the supports and

needles were in position, the main timbers were jacked up to take the load and to bring the runways into position.