The Rapid Bridge Replacement work for the Hwy 403 Aberdeen Avenue Bridge in the City of Hamilton is scheduled to occur the last weekend of July, beginning 9 PM Friday, July 30, 2010. Four whole spans of bridges up to 500T each will be moved/slid into position over the weekend and traffic will be opened up to the public on Tuesday morning.
Morrison Hershfield is proud to lead the design team on this exciting and innovative project for the Ministry of Transportation, Ontario. This is the first example of rapid bridge replacement for a multispan continuous bridge in North America. Remarkably, the complete bridge deck will be replaced in one weekend as opposed to two years using more traditional methods. This greatly reduces disruption to the public, saves significant cost in traffic staging or detours, and greatly enhances work zone safety to the public and to the workers.
The work will utilize two very different methods, including “Heavy Lifting Technology” with modular self-propelled modular transporter (SPMT) vehicles for the installation and removal of the centre spans, and “Jack and Slide” method with rails and sliding mechanism to install the two end spans. Our engineers and technicians will be on site for the entire duration to assist in the supervision and incident management.
Highway 403 will be reduced to a single lane in each direction approaching the site and will be diverted to detour ramps on either side of the highway. Traffic from the City of Hamilton will be detoured to access the highway using other connections in this weekend. Viewing areas will be set up to allow visitors and the public to witness the entire operation.
This is a major event for the Ministry and the construction industry in Ontario. For more information, please visit the Ministry website.
Additional details can be found in a press release issued by the province and in a recent article in the Hamilton Spectator.