Cable-Stayed Bridge - Sundial Bridge (3)

A view under the tower of the Sundial Bridge. Note the concrete pedestals, which were used to jack the tower into place. Afterwards, the tower was painted and the columns were removed.

I was a little surprised that the tower sat on bearings. I imagined a strong earthquake could easily knock it over. Apparently its self-weight provides a sufficient restoring moment to keep it stable for seismic and wind loads.

Also note how the superstructure is attached to the tower at this location. To the west are cables that descend from the tower and support the superstructure. Unlike a conventional cable-stayed bridge, there is no back span to balance the tower and support the main span. Instead the tower slopes backward to support the main span.

Cable-Stayed Bridge - Sundial Bridge (3) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.