Grenada Lake Collapsed Bridge
On January 17, 2020, The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Vicksburg District announced a partial collapse of the near 70-year-old bridge, Gums Crossing Bridge, over Grenada Lake in Mississippi. Fortunately, the bridge was previously shutdown in 2019 due to extensive structural damage from previous floods.
Once the award for the bridge removal contract was released by the Mississippi DOT, Mainstream was hired as the subcontractor to provide a dive crew for the rigging and recovery of the submerged sections of the collapsed bridge.
This month-long project required an overall condition assessment by divers. Upon inspection, it was documented that a total of three spans were partially exposed while an additional two spans were buried under significant substrate. Dive personnel began with assisting the general contractor by drilling and busting holes into the collapsed bridge spans to secure rigging in preparation for removal. With the utilization of a chip and burn method, divers also removed the vertical concrete piles on the bent supports.