Peace River, Alberta
Launch + Connect
To most people, a bridge makes commuting and getting around a lot easier. In Peace River, the only bridge in town is a vital passageway across the river with schools, homes, and emergency services on one side, and the town’s only hospital on the other. Considering the nearest alternative route across is a 70-kilometre detour, this bridge is a critical piece of infrastructure.
In 2018, professional engineers regulated by APEGA from the Flatiron-Aecon Joint Venture (FAJV) took up residence in Peace River to twin the existing bridge. Their work would ultimately provide greater cross-river access for the town, its emergency services, and the 17,000 drivers who cross the river every day.
The new 565-metre Peace River bridge was a record-setting achievement made possible through expert engineering. Its superstructure needed to be propelled across a 125-metre span between two of its supporting piers — a distance never reached before in any structural, steel-bridge launch.
Launching a bridge is a highly specialized process that requires exacting precision. Teams of engineers and technical experts slowly and incrementally push the bridge’s superstructure inch by inch across the river until it’s fully in place and secured.
“When you consider the spans, the depths of the girders, and the harsh, year-round conditions, there’s no question that launching this bridge was an incredible achievement of engineering,” says Ken Tanner, VP Operations for Flatiron and executive for the FAJV.
The bridge-launch method lessens the amount of time that cranes, equipment, and workers need to spend in the river, which reduces the project’s footprint. For the FAJV team, this meant pushing 80-tonne, 4-metre-tall girders, in parallel sets of five, until they reached the other side.
To tackle this challenge, the team built a set of tapered girders on the nose of the structure to deflect and roll it into place as it came into contact with each pier. Considering the structure had to travel well over the length of a football field between the third and fourth piers with no front-end support, adding the nose was a crucial piece of engineering to an already monumental feat.
As far as bridge builds and launches go, this one stands out for the FAJV team.
“Working together on this project in this joint venture was massively rewarding. We all came together in a true partnership with the town, the province, and all of our partners,” says Shane McCarthy from Aecon and FAJV deputy project manager. ”No matter what we encountered, we overcame it as a team.”
It’s no wonder the project won an International Partnership Institute Award for the success of their collaboration. The project team would also earn a Alberta 2021 Transportation Construction Partnering Award, as well as a 2022 Minister’s Awards for Transportation Innovation — Award of Excellence for Construction Innovation.
For the Town of Peace River, the bridge now means easier and safer passage across the river for commuters, services, and the economy overall — a win for everyone.
On projects like this, engineers proudly regulated by APEGA take on these challenges by combining their technical expertise, a collaborative approach, and a spirit to overcome any obstacle to deliver results.