When it gets really humid in your home, envelopes stick together and mold can begin to grow. When humid air gets to the steel cables which support one of the world’s largest suspension bridges it can create a $1 billion problem.
To prevent any future failures of part of the cables which hold up the twin spans, operators of the Delaware Memorial Bridge put a $35 million dehumidification system into operation Tuesday afternoon designed to protect the bridges. It’s only the second bridge in the U.S. to employ this new technology.
“This is an investment in the future and something that will lengthen the life span of this bridge,” said Delaware River and Bay Authority Executive Director Thomas Cook. “It’s a small investment which will pay dividends for years.”
The South Jersey Times reports that Cook was one of several authority officials and members of the team which installed the cable preservation system who donned hardhats and safety vests and made their way down the narrow stairs and catwalks inside the New Jersey anchorage on the Delaware-bound span of the bridge.