Architecture and engineering firm RS&H, in association with Five Studios, has produced a documentary short film, “In the Blink of an Eye,” which details the story of the Mathews Bridge Emergency Repairs in Jacksonville, Fla.
In September of last year, a Navy transport ship being towed by tugboats hit the Mathews Bridge, a steel bridge that spans 7,736 ft across the St. Johns River in Jacksonville. The impact severed a main truss member, one of the bottom beams that support the triangle shape (a truss) of the bridge. Although the bridge did not collapse from losing this primary beam, it was immediately closed to traffic based on safety concerns.
The video shows the process and challenges the project team overcame together to reopen the bridge in just 34 days from September 26 through October 29, 2013. More than 200 workers came together for this emergency repair project.
A five-minute version of the video is available on the RS&H website. The full, 15-minute version can be viewed at http://vimeo.com/97370834.