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M E M B E R S P O T L I G H T
Another innovative Graham solution
“We’ve been very lucky to get our share of work across
Alberta,” said Cole. “We’re a partner in the Southwest
Calgary Ring Road and have just been awarded another leg
of the south side of the West Calgary Ring Road. Some of
the jobs we’ve done have been a bit more difficult, such as
the Crowchild Trail short-term improvement project, trying
to rebuild a busy roadway and bridges across the Bow River.
In Edmonton, we’re working on a similar challenge with the
Groat Road Bridge – a very innovative project.”
Graham’s Infrastructure division was awarded the Groat
Road Bridges and Road Renewal Project in Edmonton in
January 2018. The project is centred on full superstructure
replacement on the seven-span, four-lane vehicle bridge,
spanning 330 metres across the North Saskatchewan River.
“We’re super proud to be working on this project,” said
Cole. “It’s not huge but it is very unique.”
Graham developed a construction plan never before seen
in Canada, using an overhead gantry crane to complete the
bulk of the superstructure demolition and reconstruction.
“Our big gantry cranes were going up and down, basi-cally
straddling the roadway, taking pieces off the bridge and
putting on new pieces while keeping traffic flowing in both
directions and without impacting the river for the majority
of the job.”
The engineered demolition procedure was effectively a
reverse of the traditional balanced-cantilever bridge con-struction
method; deck sections between individual girder
lines were removed first, followed by a balanced disassembly
of each girder line into self-supporting cantilevers through-out
demolition. In total, roughly 150 different lifts of this
nature were required for each phase of the demolition work.
On schedule for completion this fall, the only work left is
getting into the river to finish work on the pier supports, and
another successful Graham project will become part of the
Alberta landscape. n
The Graham approach
to safety is clear: all
safety incidents are
foreseeable, predictable
and preventable.
26 www.albertaheavy.ca
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