Maine bridge draws on powder for protection
When a runaway barge slammed into the Million Dollar Bridge in Portland, Maine, in 1986, it damaged a bridge support and halted drawbridge traffic for weeks.
This prompted the Maine Department of Transportation, which has been planning to replace the bridge for decades, to revise its bridge design to prevent future damage. The DOT now plans to sink 38 fenders into the bay floor around the bridge supports. [Bridge construction, which will cost $165 million, began earlier this year]. The fenders are 1/2 -inch-thick steel pipes, 36 inches in diameter and 109 feet long. To protect the steel from corrosion, bridge engineers specified a functional thermoset powder coating.