Project Description

About the Structure: The Chesapeake Bay Bridge (also known locally as the Bay Bridge) is a major dual-span bridge in Maryland. Spanning the Chesapeake Bay, it connects the state’s rural Eastern Shore region with the urban Western Shore. The original span, opened in 1952 and with a length of 4.3 miles, was the world’s longest continuous over-water steel structure. The bridge is officially named the Gov. William Preston Lane Jr. Memorial Bridge after William Preston Lane Jr. who initiated its construction in the late 1940s.

With shore-to-shore lengths of 4.33 and 4.35 miles, the two spans of the bridge form the longest fixed water crossing in Maryland. The two spans are relatively similar in height, with the older span at 354 feet and the newer span at 379 feet. Each span features two main spans over the bay’s two shipping channels:

Saffo Contractors was awarded the contract in 2017 to begin rehabilitation work on the West Bound Bay Bridge From spans 44 through 49. The scope of work included cleaning and painting the structural steel at the through truss spans  (Spans  44,  45  &  46),  east girder spans  (Spans  47,  48  &  49), and cleaning and painting the lane use signal gantries throughout the bridge. In addition, Saffo was tasked with removing and replacing the steel railing members throughout the westbound bridge (over 300 rail posts).

Due to the traffic volume that crosses the bridge daily, MOT was limited.  Thus Saffo utilized two barges under the bridge to stage equipment.  The first was a rigging barge that housed the material needed to create an SSPC Class 2A containment.  The second was a blasting barge which carried the equipment utilized during surface preparation from our 8-Pot ADI recycler to our 60,000 CFM Dust Collector.  Access to and from the barges was by shuttle boats that would take at the peak of the project 50 employees daily.  In all, Saffo removed and coated over 700,000 square feet of structural steel that contained lead, the last portion of the bridge that did so.