Iron workers Carlos Munoz and Nestor Caballero, in safety harnesses and sunglasses, are ready with their spud wrenches.

And manager Dave Andrews is wearing a yellow hard hat with the slogan “Nobody gets hurt.”

Dangling from the crane high over the Potomac River is a 5,000-pound piece of steel truss that is being attached to the newly repaired facing panel, or fascia, from the south side of Arlington Memorial Bridge.

The repairs have been underway inside a huge white enclosure downstream from the bridge, where the fascia was taken for the work. In a few weeks it will be moved by barge and, using the new truss, will be reattached to the bridge.

As the workers wait, the crane eases the truss into the narrow space between the fascia and the scaffolding erected to fix it. The truss swings slightly, and the men wear leather gloves marked in red with the warning “Watch your hands.”

The smallest mistake can lead to crushed bones.

“Watch your fingers!” iron worker foreman Mike “Pinky” Edelen calls out. “Coming back down. Watch yourself. … Coming down. Watch your fingers."

The fascia repair is the latest big step in the $227 million project to overhaul the 87-year-old landmark. The work began last year.

Designed in the 1920s, the famous 2,100-foot-long bridge has borne generations of motorists, Arlington National Cemetery mourners, and the feet of myriad pilgrims and protesters since it opened in 1932.

With its elegance and 11 arches, the span symbolically links North and South, the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington House, the Robert E. Lee Memorial, according to the National Park Service, which is overseeing the project.

But it is in poor condition, with much of its massive under structure corroded and crumbling. It had undergone patchwork fixes for years.

The first phase of the rehabilitation is taking place on the south side of the bridge. When that is finished, work will move to the north side.

Continue reading on washingtonpost.com