Left: For the first two bridges built for Oklahoma’ s Toby Keith Expressway, a Liebherr LR 11000 crane with 264- foot boom and a hanging auxiliary counterweight set 10 steel girders at a 152- foot radius for two parallel bridges. Each load was 230 feet long, 8 feet high, and weighed between 180,000 and 426,000 pounds. Two remote-operated Vita Load Navigator 2.0 load controllers used air propulsion to control girder rotation and alignment.
Right: For the two-girder picks, one Vita Navigator was clamped to the top flanges near each end of the girders using a frame custom designed by Central Bridge.
Below: For each bridge, Central Bridge set five girders, two sets of two girders already connected as pairs, plus one single girder. general contractor Crossland Construction.
Other members of the project team for this first phase of the TKE include owner Oklahoma Turnpike Authority, steel erector Central Bridge Company, crane service provider Northwest Crane Service, and load control provider Vita Industrial.
When general contractor Crossland awarded Central Bridge the contract to build piers and erect steel for the first phase of the TKE project, Central Bridge’ s leaders knew that the job would bring some interesting challenges.
www. contractorshotline. com November 13, 2026 7