Steel shells more than 100 feet long to be driven into riverbed
An excavator is at work this week on a manmade gravel bar in the Russian River below Memorial Bridge. The machine is setting up a staging area for a massive pile driving operation.
Two steel shells, each seven feet in diameter and more than 100 feet long, will be driven into the riverbed upstream and downstream of the center pier of the steel truss bridge.
Once driven into the ground, the shells will be filled with steel and concrete and will be joined with the existing pier to form a new permanent support for the bridge, which is undergoing renovation.
The pile driving is expected to take place next month and will take about 10 days sometime between July 1 and July 27.
The four-week time window will allow the first pier to be driven in upstream. Then, the pile driving operation will move downstream, to the other side of the bridge, and begin again.
City officials say the pile driving will be noisy and will take place between 7:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.
