From Bridge Builder Magazine - July-August 2002

A particularly difficult area to reach during World Trade Center clean-up efforts was the pit caused by the collapse of the South Tower.

Driving up and down muddy roads supported only by packed debris, workers continued to remove materials, but Bovis Lend Lease LMB, New York, construction manager since January, needed a more solid foundation to get debris, vehicles, and workers from the pit to ground level. A temporary bridge was the answer.

Koch Skanska and local union workers, hired by Bovis Lend Lease, installed a 460-foot long prefabricated bridge made by Acrow Corp., Carlstadt, N.J.

The Acrow® 700XS® panel bridge is a five-pier structure that took less than one month to erect. The two-lane brige is 30 feet wide and has a worker-access sidewalk.

"Our modular bridges [have enabled] trucks and heavy machinery to get down into the seven-story pit safely," said Bill Killeen, president of Acrow.

Ground Zero was cleared May 30, with the removal of the last piece, a steel column weighing 61.7 tons. Now, the effort is rebuilding. Crews will use the temporary bridge for about two years, Killeen estimates, to help in the rebuilding process. The bridge cost $2 million.