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The Entrepose Construction Company moves the Pegasus Bridge
Comments at this time read:
- Entrepose takes on the battle of moving the celebrated Pegasus Bridge
- The old bridge takes on a new service
- The last voyage
Never has a metal bridge been known with such honor. In 1934 it was placed at Benouville over the Caen canal, but who would have ever imagined that this tremendously heavy drawbridge would become the key object of an inauguration by Prince Charles. Although the natural history of the bridge isn't special, nor is the bridge beautiful or unique in comparison with other bridges, but the tremendous efforts that were put forth on and around this bridge during the Liberation of France were efforts of pain and glory, constituting great memories.
-Magazine La Manche Libre
Entrepose Montalev Services, a Caen based company, started the operation of moving the Pegasus Bridge on February 9, 2000. Luc Bonnemains (CEO of Entrepose), Jacky Mouchel (Director of Construction), and Gilles Cleach (Director of Affairs) represented Entrepose for this operation.
Built in 1934, this bridge, the only crossover from Caen to the sea, was a key objective on D-Day, and was the first bridge liberated. It was named 'Pegasus Bridge' by the men of the 6th British Airborne Division, who wore Pegasus, the winged horse, as their insignia.
This original bridge was to be replaced in 1994, and was to be placed in a Ranville stockyard some 900 meters from its original placement, where this old D-Day hero would sit and deteriorate.
Desiring to give the Pegasus Bridge a situation of dignity, and to follow the wishes of Admiral Brac de la Perriere (D-Day Committee President), a plan was made to move the Pegasus Bridge next to the Pegasus Bridge Memorial. This job was entrusted to Entrepose.
This operation consisted of transporting and assembling the two principal elements of the original bridge: the span and the counterweights, weighing in at 200 and 100 tons respectively. A clever and economic solution was found, in collaboration with Montalev Levage, during the preparation to move the bridge: the jacking up of the bridge at its point of departure. The operation proceeded without any problems, before a crowd of onlookers who came to help, not to mention a flock of French and British journalists who came to cover this symbolic event. The BBC (British Broadcasting Company) also came to film the event.
Controlled by one man, the enormous vehicle that transported the bridge just 40 meters short of a kilometer, proved to operate with remarkable precision, avoiding a telephone wire by just centimeters, as well as a tree and fence. The 96 wheels of this machine were not too much to transport some 200 tons at the speed of a retired turtle over a rough terrain, which took almost 2 hours.
Some operations, less covered by the media, but not less important, took place during the following days to make the bridge appear in its original state: The attachment (via welding) of the counterweights to the span were accomplished with the assistance of two 130 ton cranes. An unexpected wind caused the construction team to lose an entire day of labor.
Mr. Gilles Cleach summed up the job in these words: We've done other jobs much more complex than this, but it is necessary to recognize the context of this particular one. This job was something that we had a passion to do, but it was the most stressful because of the media coverage.
The construction team that moved the bridge, from left to right :
Luc Mougeat, Ghislain Scelles, Thierry Moitié,
Laurent Eustache, Jacky Mouchel et
Laurent Decarité.
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