A few guys I work with and parts of our families had the opportunity to tour the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge construction. We work for the same company that is building the bridge, on another bridge project. Having been to the top of the old bridge 7 years ago I knew what to expect, but this was still off the "cool meter".
This is a pic of the tensioning system that is pulling the tower out of plumb by, IIRC, 30". They have to retension when they take away or add weight to the tower.
You can see the temporary walkway under the old bridge providing access to a temporary stair tower leading to the base of the old bridge. There is a walkway conecting both bridges down on the water (20-30 feet off the water.)
The elevator that rode us to the top. It is rated for 26 people. I don't remember the weight rating.
Looking West out of the elevator.
Looking West from the top. Too bad it wasn't clear today. At least it wasn't raining.
Looking East from the top towards Tacoma.
Looking down from the top.
All the temporary stuff up on top of the tower. It's 400' from the road deck to the top of the tower crane. The tower crane is about 60' above where the people are standing.
This is the tower that holds the cables for the "cable trolley". They send 4 or 8 strands of, IIRC, 5MM wire from one end of the bridge to the other. This is the wire that has been in the news lately as being *corroded*. There are 9,800 miles of wire in each side of the span. Over 19K miles of wire in the bridge.
This is the very apex of the bridge, or at least of the suspension cable. 15-20 feet away the wires are compressed into a round shape. It is wound with an 1/8" wire around the entire run, turning lots of individual wires into a large cable. Same as the old bridge.