Mackinac Straits Bridge, Michigan	9-ga. Fence Platform Installed over Cables	(27) 4,000-ft long Lower Platform Cables
What is undoubtedly the most difficult and intriguing suspended platform and containment project completed to date is the design prepared for the 3,800-foot long, Main Suspension Span of the Mackinac Straights Bridge in northern Michigan. Contracted by The Joint Venture of Allstate Painting Contractors & American Painting Company, CDI developed suspended platform system designs that included the installation of twenty-seven (27) 4,000-foot long cables, rigged continuously between the main suspension towers, more than 200 feet above the water. Since the main span trusses could not support the lateral loads imposed by the longitudinal cables, the only feasible solution was to rig continuous cables beneath the entire length of the span and anchor them to the steel faceplates and structural framework of the towers. From what we know, such a complex and difficult design for temporary painter’s platforms has never been proposed and successfully accomplished. For elevated water storage tanks, more and more Painting Contractors are coming to CDI for design of their cable-hoisted tarpaulin enclosure systems. Since elevated storage tanks were not designed to withstand the substantial lateral wind loading imposed on a total tank enclosure, the Painter must implement a retractable containment system that can be raised and lowered, as deemed necessary. A series of upper radial outriggers are secured to the tank shell to support the tarpaulin enclosure, while a cable–winching system is located at the base of the tank riser to accomplish the raising & lowering operations.
Elevated Water Tank Installation of Outriggers & Cable Support System	Containment Hoisting Systems for Elevated Water Tanks use a series of outriggers welded around the upper perimeter of the tank shell ("knuckle"), with numerous stationary & hoisting cables extending radially outward from the center top of the tank. This system allows the Painter to raise & lower the enclosure, as needed.	Elevated Water Tank Raising of the Containment