The city of Brookfield, in the United States, is known for its floating bridge over Sunset Lake, which is currently undergoing repairs. The 37-year-old structure is being replaced by one featuring an innovative floating system.
This area is frequented by people engaged in fishing activities, as well as by those who want to enjoy the beautiful winter scenery, since the lake is covered with ice at that time of year. The first bridge connecting the two shores was built by Luther Adamas and his neighbors in 1820.
What is now the only floating bridge east of the Mississippi River had been closed to vehicular traffic since 2009, as the wooden deck on which vehicles traveled began to sink. Renovation work began last year and is expected to be completed very soon. The project has cost approximately $2.4 million.
This old structure has been removed and replaced with a new one consisting of pontoon sections joined together. They were transported by truck, unloaded with the help of a crane, and placed on a series of steel beams. These pontoons are then bonded together with resin, and their ends are attached to the concrete abutments cast in place. The new bridge is expected to have a service life of 100 years thanks to this new flotation technique using fiber-reinforced polymer.
But this isn't the first time it has had problems, and it has already been restored several times: the first time in 1884, and the last time in 1978, when it was built on top of 380 floating plastic barrels filled with polystyrene foam and a wooden deck. The structure showed significant deterioration, which prompted the latest restoration.
This type of bridge is also known as a pontoon bridge and was chosen in this case because the lake is too deep to use piles or any other construction method. Miller Construction is in charge of this repair.
