In operation for over 35 years, Vertech International assists in infrastructure projects across the United States. One example of a project made possible by Vertech International is the Charles W. Cullen Bridge on Rehoboth Beach in Sussex County, Delaware.
The Charles W. Cullen Bridge has a long, turbulent history. Before its completion in 2012, four bridges occupied the Charles W. Cullen Bridge site, but each one collapsed due to the harsh conditions of the sea below. In 1939, the first bridge, built from timber, wore away due to the seawater, and its replacement, completed in 1940, only lasted eight years, when ice flows from a storm collapsed it, killing the passengers of a pickup truck traversing it.
In 1952, the third bridge, a concrete and steel swing bridge, endured for a decade before a 1962 storm destroyed it, alongside Rehoboth Beach. The fourth bridge, made from steel girders, had the longest lifespan, engineers only expressing concerns regarding its structural integrity starting in 1989.
The Charles W. Cullen Bridge connects Rehoboth Beach to the north and Bethany Beach to the south. Equipped with blue lights at night to accommodate the surrounding bat population, the construction company that built it claims it should last a century. With 119 fiber optic sensors embedded beneath the roadbed and into the pylons, the sensors collect and transmit data about the bridge’s conditions in real-time, so local authorities can alter traffic flow permitted to cross if necessary.
The Charles W. Cullen Bridge has a long, turbulent history. Before its completion in 2012, four bridges occupied the Charles W. Cullen Bridge site, but each one collapsed due to the harsh conditions of the sea below. In 1939, the first bridge, built from timber, wore away due to the seawater, and its replacement, completed in 1940, only lasted eight years, when ice flows from a storm collapsed it, killing the passengers of a pickup truck traversing it.
In 1952, the third bridge, a concrete and steel swing bridge, endured for a decade before a 1962 storm destroyed it, alongside Rehoboth Beach. The fourth bridge, made from steel girders, had the longest lifespan, engineers only expressing concerns regarding its structural integrity starting in 1989.
The Charles W. Cullen Bridge connects Rehoboth Beach to the north and Bethany Beach to the south. Equipped with blue lights at night to accommodate the surrounding bat population, the construction company that built it claims it should last a century. With 119 fiber optic sensors embedded beneath the roadbed and into the pylons, the sensors collect and transmit data about the bridge’s conditions in real-time, so local authorities can alter traffic flow permitted to cross if necessary.
