Lamar beat me with the live picture link, so I will add the rest of the information from
Cheryl Roberts updating the Hatteras move.
Cheryl writes:
The Dare County Commissioners and three private property owners north of the lighthouse have decided not to appeal Judge Terrence Boyle's denial of a temporary injunction to stop the relocation process. The way has been cleared for an uninterrupted move process.
The Principal Keepers Quarters is on its new foundation and movers are filling in around the perimeter. The Double Keepers Quarters is positioned over its new foundation footers and the house will be lowered within two weeks. Both houses look brand new; with the foliage behind the houses, the feeling is that of one hundred years ago.
The tower's new foundation will increase the footprint from the present 48' diameter to a 70' diameter. This will allow the tower to spread its weight more evenly on a solid, seamless concrete foundation.
At the time of this writing about 10% of the granite foundation remains to be removed. When all stone has been mined, shoring towers will be in place as temporary support. Engineers on site Tuesday expressed great satisfaction with how evenly the load of the tower has spread onto the shoring towers.
International Chimney's team of engineers pointed out monitors on the tower that "watch" for stress, tilt, and weather. These monitors alert personnel on site as well as engineers in two other places in the country.
ICC predicts the tower will begin its slide to the new foundation around the end of May and into the first week of June. The tower should end the 2,900 foot journey sometime in July if no delays are encountered.
The first image, "mining more1.jpg" is courtesy the
National Park Service.
On the left, the bright orange shoring towers are evident all the way down the tunnel. One message sent to the society from earlier images showing light on the other side of the tower said, "There's a tunnel at the end of the light!"
To the right (west side of the tower) there is about 15% of the granite foundation remaining to be mined; shoring towers will also replace this as support.
Below the shoring towers is the steel mat which rests on the original pine timber mat. The cross bars of the shoring towers will be removed to allow room to place main beams with jacks and cross steel. These are two more elements of the lift system that will transfer the load of the tower to the transport system.
The second image titled "excavation new foundation.jpg" is by
Bruce Roberts. Looking east, this picture shows the excavation of the new foundation with the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse in the background. The pipes are part of the dewatering system for the foundation excavation area.
Also attached is "nite work1.jpg" courtesy the
NPS. Workers are running two shifts well into the early morning hours to keep the relocation on schedule.
Thanks again to Cheryl for the information!!
