Structal-Bridges delivers its last girders for the Highway 25 Bridge

Structal-Bridges recently delivered its last components for the new Highway 25 Bridge. The last three components, 8-foot-deep (2.4 m) girders, were recently hauled to the Laval side of the construction site and erected on the central section of the bridge using a crane barge.

The three girders, two weighing 20.5 tons each and one weighing 14 tons, were not the largest components fabricated by Structal for this project, but represented the culmination of Structal’s involvement in one of the biggest infrastructure projects in the province of Quebec. Altogether, Structal fabricated 378 girders for this project, accounting for over 12,000 tons of steel. This total included 197 girders, 8 of which were box girders, for the cable-stayed span and 100 girders for the approach spans.

The largest components were 131.2 feet (40 m) long by 12.5 feet (3.8 m) deep and weighed 80 tons. Structal also fabricated 81 girders (980 tons) for the construction of three single-span overpasses for this project. Goodco Z-Tech supplied multidirectional elastomeric pot bearings (PM), installed at pylons 10 and 11 of the main span, as well as wind tongue lateral pinning systems and a bracing system consisting of 400 braces (930 tons).

“The Highway 25 Bridge project represented a formidable challenge given its complicated design and magnitude,” said Robin Lapointe, general manager of Structal-Bridges. “The approaches to the bridge required large girders, each ranging between 85 and 90 tons, and all were painted inside Structal’s paint facility in Quebec City. Our equipment was upgraded in 2009 to meet the needs of our customer.” This project is the second cable-stayed bridge project Structal has carried out for general contractor Kiewit. “In 2009, we collaborated on the Pitt River Bridge project, a 1,640-foot (500 m) cable-stayed bridge that spans the Pitt River between Port Coquitlam and Pitt Meadows in British Columbia,” added Mr. Lapointe.

It was in 2007, as part of the Highway 25 completion project, that Structal secured the contract from the design-build joint venture of Kiewit-Parsons for the construction of the six-lane steel bridge over the Rivière des Prairies between Montreal and Laval as well as three overpasses. Although the bridge linking Montreal and Laval is expected to be completed a few weeks from now, it will be closed until July 2011 for finishing work.