Upcoming Events

Hay River - Pine Point Bridge Rehabilitation

Abstract:

Constructed in 1964 and 1965 respectively, the Hay River Pine Point Road and Railway Bridges are located on Highway 5 between the towns of Hay River and Pine Point in the Northwest Territories. The bridges share pier and abutment substructure supports, and although the railway spans were previously owned by CN Rail, ownership had passed to the NWT Department of Transportation. This allowed for the rather unusual option of using the abandoned rail bridge as a detour while performing work on the road bridge.

The bridge superstructures are made up of 3 spans. The two end spans are 48.62m through trusses and the middle span is a 68.58m through truss.

The road bridge superstructure is constructed with steel stringers and floor beams supporting reinforced concrete deck supported by the trusses. The deck and floor system was found to be in poor condition and in need of rehabilitation.

The railway superstructure, along with the substructure supporting it, were originally designed to carry an E60 rail car load. An inspection performed on July 30 and 31, 2017, indicated that these structural elements were in good condition and therefore suitable to carry vehicle loads as a detour to the road bridge. An assessment of the rail deck structural capacity along with design requirements to make the structure suitable for vehicle traffic was performed and showed the option to be feasible.

Bridge construction and in particular bridge rehabilitation is challenging in the remote northern parts of Canada owing to access and other logistics, cold climate, and short construction season. The ability to reuse the substructure and to turn the old rail bridge into a detour greatly enhanced the options which the NWT could pursue. Instead of constructing a costly detour, the possibility of superstructure replacement and structure replacement becomes feasible as compared to costly rehabilitation. This presentation will discuss the inspection of the bridges as well as preliminary and detailed design work completed on this unusual bridge rehabilitation.

Presenter: 

Mark Scanlon, P.Eng., Project Manager, Stantec

Mark is a project manager and bridge engineer who’s been involved in the management, analysis, design, and construction of numerous projects involving bridges, buildings, water-retaining structures, and retaining walls. While focusing mainly on projects in northern Alberta, he’s also been involved in projects nationally and internationally.

A key member of many municipal rehabilitation projects, Mark worked on the Central LRT Station Rehabilitation located in downtown Edmonton, Alberta, and the Barrier Wall Study and Replacement in St. Albert, Alberta. His efforts in these projects included project management, structural analysis, design, stakeholder engagement, and construction oversight.

Mark has also been a part of many other bridge replacement and rehabilitation projects, including the Hay River to Pine Point Bridge in the Northwest Territories and the Salt River Bridge in northern Alberta. As the projects were geographically isolated, Mark and his team went an extra mile to offer creative solutions to the clients.

When he isn’t building bridges between communities, Mark is heavily involved with community outreach projects and other professional activities, including CSCE. He has served as Chair of the Edmonton Section from 2015-2017 and has been involved with CSCE National in varying roles over the years.

A presentation abstract will be available for download here.