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FORWARD OPERATING BASE IRONHORSE, Tikrit, Iraq — On a crisp November evening, as shadows stretched along the banks of the Tigris River, six soldiers from the 652nd Assault Float Bridge Engineer Company, climbed out of the multi-purpose boat and fanned out along the cliff. While some pulled security, others pushed through the tall reeds along the river’s edge to retrieve a pontoon that had escaped its restraints when the river rose the night before. Aptly named, Rugged Bypass is a major floating bridge construction project near the city of Tikrit that began more than two months ago. When completed later this year, it will be the longest pontoon bridge built by Coalition forces in northern Iraq. The bridge will be 340 meters long, or more than 1,000 feet, and will stretch past both banks and onto the causeways. The pontoon span is meant to handle rerouted traffic when a permanent bridge in Tikrit is closed for repairs. The 652nd, an Army Reserve unit from Ellsworth, Wis., is one of a handful of units collaborating on the Rugged Bypass project that, when done, will feature a floating bridge that spans the Tigris River five miles south of Tikrit. The latest challenge came with rising water levels of the Tigris as severe storms in northern Iraq and Turkey in November caused 24 pontoons to break away and float downriver. The search for pontoons went on for several days, and many were found as far as 25 miles downriver. Almost all stray pontoons were found and recovered, and construction teams have resumed building. To withstand the fast current, the new Mabey & Johnson bridge is a floating construction using large pontoons that are anchored to the riverbed. Allen Pierson, a Mabey & Johnson Ltd. employee from the United Kingdom, is supervising the construction of the bridge. “This will be the longest floating bridge by Mabey Johnson ever built and the first Mabey Johnson bridge to be constructed by the U.S. Army.” Pierson said. Because of the fluctuation of the river level, building the span has been particularly challenging. “So really, the actual bridge building is a small part of the project,” Pierson said. Iraqi contractors have been hired to assist with building the causeways, welding the pontoons on which the bridge will rest, and using 60-ton cranes to lower completed sections of the bridge into place. Getting the project from the drafting table to the water has been a major endeavor as the project has required a variety of skills and equipment from various units. Equipment operators from the 229th Combat Support Equipment Company, a National Guard unit from Platteville, Wis., have been conducting engineering operations on the project since Oct. 12, |
