March 24, 2023
While replacing a large culvert on a Defence Construction Canada (DCC) project in Trenton, an unexpected heavy utility twin duct bank was discovered, which prevented the contractor from performing their original scope of work. A support bridge was needed to keep the twin concrete duct banks suspended above the excavation site so that work could continue.
Algonquin Bridge supplied a 36.6 m Modular Bridge System on a rental contract. The utility pipe didn’t run in a straight line so we supplied a wider bridge than is typically required to ensure there were sufficient support points under the bridge for the curved pipe.
Close collaboration with contractor on utility pipe bridge format
Fidelity Engineering & Construction shared CAD files with our design team to us help match the site layout. However, since the dimensions were not perfect, we designed the structure to still be able to support the pipe loads if the field conditions were different from those modelled.
We collaborated with Fidelity to ensure our schedule did not impact theirs, and we hustled our teams to get the bridge to the site as soon as possible. Once delivered, the bridge was assembled on-site and crane lifted into place in a week. Follow-up contact confirmed how happy they were with the temporary bridge solution and our service.
“Algonquin Bridge was instrumental in bringing our concept design for suspending the unidentified concrete duct banks into reality. Because the utilities within the duct banks were critical to operations on the military base, any damage or potential service interruption was unacceptable to the owner. Algonquin Bridge performed their part of the solution to this problem collaboratively and responsively. During development of the design for the duct bank suspension system, Algonquin provided Fidelity with timely and effective service, right from the engineering and design phase through to supply of the structure. Algonquin understood that our schedule was very restrictive and did everything they could to help Fidelity meet its requirements. We will not hesitate to turn to Algonquin again for future contract work.”
— Robert Walker, VP, Major Projects, Fidelity Engineering & Construction Inc.
