Broadview - With the hard work of crew members, and a little cooperation from mother nature, the bridge on Highway 201 in the QuAppelle Valley is coming along as planned, and is slated to be up and running by mid-March.
The bridge work is about half-way done, according to Senior Bridge Project Engineer Allan Hegedus.
Pile-driving went well, and so now its just building the abutments and piers - lots of welding, lots of labor-intensive stuff, Hegedus explained. But then the precast goes on and the bridge rail and its fairly quick after that.
The weather has been cooperative so far, and there havent yet been any setbacks caused by extreme colds or unusually warm temperatures, with the exception of one warm-spell back in November that caused a minor delay in the demolition process.
The bridge construction has been an inconvenience to some residents who use it daily, but Hegedus points out that the new bridge is going to be far superior to the previous one.
The old-fashioned arch bridge may have been nice to look at it in its prime, but Hegedus insists that aside from the obvious holes and other structural issues, the design of the bridge is simply not practical in this day and age.
With the up-to-date design, the height restriction will be eliminated, the width restriction reduced and the load capacity up to todays highway standards.
Those are the main benefits - height, width and weight, Hegedus said.
The old bridge was built in 1930, when trucks, particularly farming trucks, were built quite differently than they are today.
Theyre bigger, theyre heavier. Back in the 30s, even 30 years ago, they were not running trucks this big, Hegedus said. Weve noticed it here, because we have to do the approvals of overweight trucks on bridges, and in the last ten years, the volume of work that thats created is just amazing.
Drivers are still being encouraged to use the surrounding grid roads as an alternate route. The roads are being monitored two to three times a week, to ensure that they remain in good condition until the bridge is complete.
The goal from the start of the bridge project has been to get the new one up and running before the spring thaw can cause the grid roads to deteriorate.
The bridge will be useable immediately upon completion, but the final paving cannot be completed until spring.
Hwy. 201 bridge opening set for mid-March
Hwy. 201 bridge opening set for mid-March
-
-
Published on
March 2, 2010
- Published on April 6, 2010
-
Annie Savage
- Rate
- Top of the page
