Bridge Construction Videos, Part 1 - staging the materials

Last week, I had Boo go along to the construction site on a day the men were pouring concrete, so that she could get some videos for me to post here.

The day didn't go as expected. As we started in on the deck portion of the bridge, we had around 45 volunteers show up for the first big pour. The second big pour day around 70 volunteers came out to work, but somehow, the word didn't go out to bring in the needed volunteers for the most recent pour day (recruiting volunteers is the job of the local government officials), and so only 14 men (all from one village) showed up

Our intrepid crew, along with these few volunteers managed to do the pour in one very long, grueling day, even though one of the cement mixers broke down along the way! Here are some of Boo's photos and videos, so you can experience the day:

Side view of the bridge. The left span is completed, the forms are in place for the pouring of the middle span, the right span still consists only of beams resting on the supports.

Top view of the bridge. Nearest section is completed, and will be the location of the mixing of the concrete for the next span. In the very back of the photo you can see the third span of the bridge, where there are still just beams, and no deck.

The video below shows the men gathering the materials and placing them on the completed part of the bridge deck, so they'll be close at hand as the mixing and pouring begin. Each of those bags of cement weighs about 100 pounds.

I'll post part 2, showing the mixing and pouring of the concrete, as soon as I can get the videos uploaded (it takes hours for me to upload a single video).