it's a mystery.

 

For some months now construction has been going on to renovate, rebuild the bridge over the St. Mary's River.  I have a great view of the action from my balcony.  I can also hear the construction noise very clearly.  While I've seen the progress on the roadbed of the left two lanes of the bridge, layer by layer, I am completely surprised by what's going on this week.  Starting very early (6:30am) Monday dump trucks started pouring gravel into the river on the east side, where I can watch.  When dump trucks dump gravel there is first the sound of rushing roaring gravel pouring out of the truck box, then the box is lowered back down. This is accompanied by at least four loud bangs as the back flap settles into place.  This is what I've awakened  to every morning this week.  I've lost count of how many loads of gravel have been dumped in but it's enough to have built up a gravel road dense enough to hold up very heavy construction equipment.  After building this pathway out from the river bank to the first pier, they have now turned the corner and are going under the bridge.  You can see that in the top picture.  Now the big question is why.  I don't know. and that's very frustrating.  Any engineers out there want to give me a clue?