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 Bridge Construction: The Moyie River Bridge 

 From an Email from Larry Adams, December 2009 

Nearly 500 feet above the Moyie River in northern Idaho, this bridge was constructed during the 

1962-64 construction seasons and required much 

intestinal fortitude from the inspectors. 

Larry Adams wrote that he first came to work for the Bureau of Public Roads (BPR) in 

September 1958 and was sent to work “for Project Engineer Jerry Dodge to work on the Dixie 

road (Elk City cut-off road).” He spent four years on that project working “as an Engineering 

Aide, doing work as a chain man, materials tester, weight man, etc.” 

Later he was transferred to a road construction project in St. Maries, Idaho. “I stopped by 

Walt Smith’s office to report in and get information on where to park my trailer. Walt asked if I 

would like to continue on to Bonners Ferry, Idaho, to work on a bridge project, as Larry Fisher

had just moved down from there and didn’t want to move back.” 

He agreed to the move and relocated his trailer to Bonners Ferry, then continued on to 

Moyie Springs. When he arrived, he found “there was no one to report to. The Engineer and his 

assistant were in transit. Not knowing what to do, I went to Dale Jackson’s office in Bonners 

Ferry. He was the construction project engineer on the Copeland-Porthill road project.” Larry 

offered to help on that project until the rest of the crew arrived at Moyie Springs, but “Dale said 

they didn’t need any help, so I did what I like to do: fish.” 

After a few days, Resident Engineer Gerald Lind and Assistant Don Olson arrived and 

Larry was able to report to his assignment. “The project was for $1,200,000 to Northern 

Construction and Imperial Construction, a joint venture,” he remembered. 

“The first order of work was to lay out the bridge,” he said, recalling that “Joe Gautier

also helped on the lay out.” They began by establishing base lines “using a direct second 

theodlite, a low variation measuring chain supported every 25 feet, to establish the abutments 

and piers and their reference points. After months of triangulation we officially moved the end 

of the bridge point established by the Location Engineer, Gordon Mead, by one half inch.

Larry took a break from the project “to go help Project Engineer Ron Barger in 

Freedom, Wyoming.” They finished the Wayan-Freedom project, one he'd worked on the 

previous year, then he was sent back to Bonners Ferry for survey work before being officially 

transferred to the Moyie Bridge for the concrete operation.

When he arrived, “Ted Hickman was on the project to oversee the grading operation and 

help with other work.” The work completed to that point included “pier 1 footings, pier 2 

footings and 2nd lift of columns, the base of pier 3, the footings of pier 4, and the footings of pier 

5....

“The construction of the bridge was done by a highline,” Larry said, describing it as “a 

tower before the beginning of the bridge and a tower past the end of the bridge, a cable, I think, 2 

inches in diameter from tower to tower on which a carriage rode. The towers could be moved 

sideways each way. 
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“When the substructure concrete was completed, the 110-foot plate girders were set in 

spans 1 and 2. The girders were composite with the deck by shear connectors (Nelson studs). A 

row had 4 studs welded to the top flange. They varied 6 inch spacing at the abutments and piers 

and longer spacing at mid span. You had to walk pigeon-toed between them, or walk on top of 

them.” 

Larry admitted that “Don and I didn't like walking that way, so we walked on the bottom 

flange and held onto the studs.” This drew some kidding from one of the Ironworkers, Don

Vick, who suggested it was fear that kept them from walking up on top. Larry said “it wasn't 

very long (before) the fear was gone.” 

“The next (step) was to set the 85-foot plate girders in the end span, pier 5 to abutment 

2....The setting of the steel was by a subcontractor, Don L. Cooney of Seattle, Washington,” he 

said, and he and Don Olson had to follow up with an “inspection and ... check the torque of the 

bolts, in this case at the diaphragms.” This time, he said, “Don and I didn't walk on the bottom 

flange.”

The subcontractor took one look at the wrench they were using “and let us use their 

torque wrench. It was a lot easier to use than the one from Property and Supply. 

“It took 160 pounds of pull on the end of the wrench to get an audible click indicating the 

bolts were tight. We checked 10 percent of a bolt pattern; if a bolt was loose we checked the 

whole pattern. Finding a loose bolt just about caused you to dirty your pants. There were 

approximately 35,000 high strength bolts throughout the bridge.” 

Describing the bridge, Larry said “the truss span lengths are 270 feet, 378 feet, and 270 

feet; the height is 30 feet at pier 2, center span, and pier 5, and 50 feet at piers 3 and 4. The truss 

control points are every 27 feet and called a panel point known as L0, L1, L2, etc., to L17, the 

center of the truss. Work began at pier 5 with false-work towers at L3 and L7. The chord 

members are two panel points, so to get to L3, the chord member had to be bolted together; this 

was done on the ground. These chords were set and assembly began. From L3 to L7 was done 

by the cantilever method and also from L7 to pier 4 (L10) and on to L17. The same method was 

used from Pier 3 to pier 4 and on to L17. The fabrication of the steel and layout of the bridge 

matched perfectly. 

“We actually measured the height of the bridge with a 500-foot chain and it was 461 feet 

to the water level.

“At this point, Gerry Lind when back to the Idaho Division office (where he was working 

as the assistant Bridge Engineer),” Larry recalled. “He did the concrete design for the bridge 

(and) Don assumed the bridge duties. 

“Next was superstructure concrete. The deck was in two parts: 6 inches of lightweight 

concrete (topped with) 1 inch of regular. The lightweight concrete couldn’t be over 110 pounds 

per cubic foot. The aggregate was expanded shale. 

“The idea was to pour and finish the lightweight out far enough and get back and cover it 

with topping before it set.” When that didn't work, “the topping was put on later. After much 

discussion, name calling, finger pointing and whatever else, a decision was made” on another 

method “that did work on the rest of the deck pours. 

“To get the topping to bond to the lightweight on the first pour, we required the contractor 

to use epoxy that could bond to a wet surface. Epoxy was applied and topping poured and 

finished,” Larry said. “A couple of weeks later, Don wondered if it bonded, so I took a hammer 

and pounded on the surface. Clack! Well, most of the topping didn't bond. We found out later 

the contractor was diluting the epoxy with gasoline. They did it right the next time. 
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“The concrete was poured by using 2-6 cubic yard concrete buckets and transported by 

the highline to a bellboy that had radio access to the operator to position the buckets.” Larry 

recalled one instance when “I was using the level to set overhang grades and suddenly I was 

lying on the deck. I got up and wondered what had hit me.” He found that “the level was 

damaged. I got up looked around and saw a full 6-yard concrete bucket traveling” away from 

him, down the highline. “I had been hit in the back of my neck with the bucket. My hard hat 

couldn't stop the bucket.” 

In spite of that incident, he remembered, “there were only a couple of minor injuries to 

any of the workers and inspectors. There was 32 claims submitted by the contractor.” 

Larry remembered that they also had a trainee on the job named Reed Brown. “Where 

he (is now), I don’t know,” said Larry, but “during the steel work....I know he was the first of us 

to get to pier 4.” Don and Gerry were both graduates of the BPR training program themselves, 

and Don kidded him about that accomplishment: “Don told him, 'anyone can crawl.'” 

Stories in this series have been developed by Marili Green Reilly from interviews, email, and 

correspondence. Retirees with stories to share about their early work at the Bureau of Public 

Roads are invited to email marili.reilly@dot.gov.
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Larry Adams provided these pictures, noting that “This is how we checked the bolts. I'm the one 

on the bottom with the torque wrench. The others are Ironworkers. I was working with Tom 

Neunaber on the Horsetail Falls Bridge on the North Cross State Highway.” 

“These are Nelson studs (shear connectors) on the Moose Creek bridge in Denali National Park. 

You can see the problem with walking on the top flange. These were evenly spaced, whereas on 

the Moyie River Bridge they varied.”