Thank you! I was curious about what Big River Crossing used to be. I love to explore and know what things used to be or how it was built. Wish I could see how the Hernando De Soto Bridge was built. Also kind of curious if water was there or not.
I watched them build the Hernando Desoto Bridge from an office tower in downtown Memphis between 1971 and 1973. The superstructure was built with cranes mounted on barges. Much of the Steel was fabricated at the old Pigeon-Thomas facility located at Main and Crump Boulevard. The larger beams were shipped on barges from the Midwest. There certainly was water there the entire time. The Mississippi River main channel is almost a mile wide at Memphis and can cover almost ten miles when over "flood stage".
No, but I think barges were used as well. Not sure how this is done, but I know that you can build forms and pour concrete in the forms and the concrete will set in the water. I am also sure they had to drive piers into the river bed that rested on the bedrock under the channel, just like they do for tall buildings.
