Bridges Archives - Thomas Industrial Coatings

A new project and a safety award received: TIC looks back on June

June was another banner month for Thomas Industrial Coatings. With the Huey P. Long bridge widening project just finished, we’re showing no signs of slowing down as we move on to the New Mississippi River Bridge being built in our hometown of St. Louis.

Thomas will be providing the surface preparation and coatings application to this new bridge construction project set to help relive local traffic congestion, as well as play a major role in the realignment and reconstruction of Instate 70. Last month saw us getting started in our role as we hoisted our 12,000 pound hydraplatform to the road deck so that we will be able to access the cable anchorage points along both sides of the bridge.

As always, our commitment to safety is a top priority with TIC. Safety Director Todd Cook and Safety Coordinator Andrew Everding have been hard at work performing site safety evaluations to identify any potential safety concerns that might affect our crew on this new project. Of course, that didn’t stop them from taking a short break to enjoy the view from the New Mississippi River Bridge, as you can see in the photo.

And speaking of safety, in June, TIC was honored to have once again been awarded the CREST Top 10 Finisher by the Finishing Contractors Association. This award is given to contractors who show incredible excellence in their dedication to the safety training of their employees. For the second year in a row, we’ve placed among the ten safest companies in the world, and we couldn’t be prouder of the work we’ve done to complete such an achievement.

The future is certainly looking bright for Thomas Industrial Coatings. We’ve got a lot more news to share with everyone, so keeping watching this space for further updates, or subscribe to our newsletter to find out more.

Thomas Industrial Coatings says congratulations to its workers on another job well done

Since 2008, Thomas Industrial Coatings has had the privilege of being a part of the Huey P. Long bridge widening project. Now that project is beginning to wind down, and soon the men and women of our NOLA crew will have finished their job. Looking back, they’ve put in an awful lot of quality work they should be very proud of over the last five years. But while pride in a job well done is its own reward, our CEO Don Thomas wanted to show his great appreciation for everything Team Thomas has accomplished with a little bit of fun down on the Mississippi River.

Last Saturday, our workers, their families, and our entire TIC office staff were treated to a riverboat cruise aboard the Creole Queen for a night of food, dancing, and music. Everyone got a chance to kick back, relax, and enjoy themselves after years of hard work dedicated to a successful and safe project.

On Sunday, Huey P.Long Project Manager Josh Thomas took everyone on a tour of the bridge, providing a great opportunity for the families of our crew members to see exactly what Team Thomas does on a daily basis. For those who have never gotten a chance to see our team at work, it was quite the eye-opener.

Everyone here at Thomas Industrial Coatings would like to thank Don Thomas for his generosity in hosting such a great event. And to everyone on our NOLA crew, thank you for your incredible efforts on the Huey P. Long project, and for being true examples of Thomas Pride. Congratulations to all!

It’s a blast: St. Louis’ Metro highlights our Eads Bridge rehabilitation work

While the work we do is fulfilling enough, we here at Thomas Industrial Coatings like a little praise every once in a while. Who doesn’t? So we were plenty pleased to find that Metro had decided to shine a spotlight on the work we’re doing preparing the Eads Bridge for its new coat of paint on their official blog.

Chelsey from Metro’s blog Nextstop visited the job site just before we set up the blast containment area to find out a little more about what we’d be doing. As she toured the future site of our blast containment area along the Safespan, we took the opportunity to tell her all about how we protect not only our workers but the community and river below.

Chelsey highlights the daily inspections and 24-hour air quality monitoring we perform as we blast away the rust and old paint left on the bridge, the careful containment of all dust and debris as it’s swept through the tubes and into our dust collectors, and the strict medical examinations and equipment guidelines we follow that keep our workers healthy and secure. Though one might expect these kinds of precautions on such a huge job, we bring this type of level of commitment to safety of both the environment and our employees to each and every job we do, no matter what size it is.

Of course, it wasn’t an entirely educational visit. After all, we couldn’t have Chelsey visit without giving her a glimpse of the incredible view we get to see every day. You can take a look at some of the things she got to see in her Flickr slideshow. Thanks to her and to Metro’s Nextstop blog for coming out!

Eads Bridge painting officially underway

And we’re proud to say that we got an invite to the launch party. The event marked a kickoff of the revitalization of a landmark that bridges Missouri and Illinois. As we detailed in this article, we’ll be working in tandem with the St. Louis Bridge Construction Co. to complete the overhaul of this historic bridge.

For those unfamiliar with the St. Louis icon, the Eads Bridge serves as a gateway for pedestrians, automobiles and the MetroLink transit system. Revitalizing this structure that dates back to the 1870s will employ more than 300 individuals in the St. Louis Area as we all work together to restore the Eads Bridge back to its original luster.

“This is a great opportunity for our team to work on a bridge that is part of the fabric of St. Louis living,” said Dane McGraw, the project’s General Manager. “We’re very excited to get our bridge painters started.”

The Eads Bridge Rehabilitation Project will bridge the gap between historical prominence and modern safety and reliability. Thomas Industrial Coatings will supply a rust-inhibiting coating that will play a vital role in extending the life of the Eads Bridge for at least another 50 years.

The event took place on Tuesday, May 22, 2012. In attendance were Mayor Francis Slay of the City of St. Louis, St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley, Mayor Alvin Parks of the City of East St. Louis, David Dietzel of Bi-State Development Agency/Metro, Theresa McMillan of the Federal transit Administration, Jim McHugh from the Office of U.S. Representative Russ Carnahan, U.S. Representative William ‘Lacy’ Clay and John Nations, the President and CEO of Bi-State Development Agency/Metro.

Team of bridge painters benefit yet again from GPS North America

For the second time in less than a week, GPS North America’s technology saved us a lot of money. This time, it was in the Greater St. Louis Area and the trailer was being used by a group of Thomas Industrial Coating bridge painters.

To get you up to speed, we’ve been hired by MoDOT to repaint the I-270 bridges between Lindbergh Boulevard and I-170. It’s a large project and one on which we’re very proud to work. Progress on the project had been smooth until a thief tried to throw a wrench in our plans. Thanks to GPS North America, we stayed up and running and never missed a stroke.

The theft of the trailer happened on May 9. Within minutes of the theft, we were pinged and our team was in the perpetrator’s driveway, claiming what was ours and calling the local police to alert them. Thanks to GPS North America for saving the day…again.

Here’s how they did it the first time around.

Thomas prepped to paint historic bridge

The Eads Bridge was dedicated on July 4, 1874. 138 years later, we at Thomas Industrial Coatings, have been hired to give the bridge its first fresh coat of paint since the bridge was built.

Starting this May, we’ll be abating the bridge’s original lead coating, prepping its surface to SSPC SP-10 cleanliness standards and applying a three-coat industrial coating application comprised of zinc, epoxy and polysiloxane in order to help ensure the structural integrity of the steel-based Eads Bridge. The 530,000 square foot bridge painting project is slated to be finished Fall 2014.

The bridge was named after its designer and builder – James Buchanan Eads – who at the time of commissioning was the captain of the U.S. Engineer Corps. At its time of construction, the bridge was the longest of its kind (arch bridge) in the entire world. Now in the shadows of the St. Louis Arch, the Eads Bridge is considered by many to be the first iconic structure of St. Louis.

“The Eads Bridge is a St. Louis icon and every member of the Thomas Industrial Coatings family should be proud to be part of this historic refurbishment,” said Dane McGraw, the project’s General Manager.

The structure was the first large bridge to span the Mississippi River, and the first of its kind in the world to use alloy steel. It was the first to be built using cantilever support methods and one of the first to use pneumatic caissons as well.

Today, the bridge still stands, serving the city of St. Louis. The road deck has been restored, allowing car traffic and foot traffic, and the rail deck has been utilized by MetroLink since the early 1990s.