![]() ![]() The operator watches the live feed on video monitors and uses a control panel to open and close the bridge.Īfter Dujardin's death, Public Works officials have said in statements that remotely operating bridges is "a safe and standard industry practice" and "a practice that has been in effect for decades." How many bridges are operated remotely? Each remotely operated bridge is assigned to a specific bridge tower. Multiple operators do not oversee the same bridge. The operator must check two cameras with live footage of the Kilbourn Avenue bridge before, during and after opening it.Īnd "while a bridge house is responsible for multiple bridges, only one bridge is to be moving at a time," said Brian DeNeve, spokesperson for the city Department of Public Works. How does the bridge operator remotely open a bridge? The other seven movable bridges in the city are vertical lift bridges, in which the entire bridge deck rises vertically in one piece. The upward rotation is facilitated by a gear underneath the bridge called a pinion. The roadbed swings upward and is balanced by a counterweight. It is one of 13 bascule bridges in the city. It has two halves, called leaves, and splits in the middle. The Kilbourn Avenue Bridge is a bascule bridge, or drawbridge. How does the Kilbourn Avenue Bridge work? Richard suffered head trauma and died from his injuries at the scene, the medical examiner said. He held on as the bridge deck rose to a 90-degree angle but eventually lost his grip and fell 71 feet to the concrete street behind him, the report said. ![]() ![]() He grabbed onto the side railing and held on for one to two minutes as the bridge continued to rise, the report said. When he did realize what was happening, he tried to catch up to his wife, but he couldn't make it to her in time. It's thought that Richard, who was 77 and used a hearing aid, didn't hear the bridge's warning bells at first, a report from the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office said. Rose-Marie had been doing a fitness routine, walking ahead of her husband and walking back to him, and she made it to the other side in time. But Richard was near the middle of the bridge when it began to open. Mary's Catholic Church.Īs out-of-town visitors, the Dujardins didn’t know the bridge under their feet could open, the family said. Richard Dujardin and his wife, Rose-Marie, were in Milwaukee for a conference and were crossing the bridge about noon on Aug. Here's what we know - and don't know - about the incident, and how Milwaukee bridges operate. The Journal Sentinel has filed additional requests for records from the city to learn more about what occurred. The Department of Public Works does not record the live video feed bridge operators watch, according to a open-records employee at the department. Richard Dujardin, a retired reporter from Rhode Island who was on his way to church, was already walking on the Kilbourn Avenue Bridge when the traffic gates lowered and bells began to sound, a witness told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Since a Rhode Island man fell to his death from a downtown Milwaukee bridge as it opened on Aug.15, it remains unclear how the operator, controlling it remotely from another bridge tower, could have missed him in the surveillance video. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |