page_title: Linn Cove Viaduct
section_title: Design  and Construction
hierarchical_section_title: Linn Cove Viaduct / Design  and Construction
caption_attribution_description: English: Diagram in the NPS Historic American Engineering Record NC-42-A
context_page_description: The Linn Cove Viaduct is a 1,243 feet long, concrete segmental bridge which snakes around Grandfather Mountain in western North Carolina. Completed in 1983 at a cost of $10 million, it was one of the last major construction projects on the Blue Ridge Parkway which runs 469 miles linking Shenandoah National Park to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Built mostly along the spine of the Blue Ridge, the parkway was fully completed and opened for through traffic in 1987.
context_section_description: The viaduct was designed by Figg and Muller Engineers, Inc. with construction beginning in 1979.  Some 1,243 feet (379 m) long and a little less than 40 feet (12 m) wide, the viaduct rests on seven piers.  What made its construction noteworthy was keeping heavy construction equipment off the ground.  Building the bridge from its south side, this was done by connecting 153 segments one at a time using a custom crane that moved along the viaduct as it was being built.  Each segment, nominally 8.5 feet (2.6 m) long and weighing 50 tons, was precast at a facility onsite and moved on a carriage to the crane.  All but one of these segments were slightly curved as the viaduct needed to be shaped in a "S-and-a-half" figure to follow the contours of the mountain.   The only work done on the ground involved drilling the footings for the piers which also were built in a segmental manner.   The viaduct has received numerous design awards to include the 1984 President's Design Award which states …construction of the roadway by pre-cast, segmental concrete elements set from above on segmental piers is elegant, economical, and new… results in an elegant curving ribbon that caresses the terrain without using it as a support. It gives the motorist the sensation of driving tantalizing on air while the earth goes by."
caption: Viaduct Erection Scheme
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