Binnie Construction Services supervised the construction of a $22.5 million bridge across the Fort Nelson River. Located on Highway 77 near Fort Nelson, the bridge was built by Forbes Industrial Contractors.
This challenging project involved constructing an ice bridge from which to work, setting up a remote concrete plant, and constructing a 430-metre, two-lane concrete bridge onto the existing piers.The original, single-lane bridge was moved downstream onto temporary piers and abutments to allow traffic to flow through during the construction period.
As was allowed by the contract, the contractor chose to slide the existing bridge onto temporary piers, to create a single-lane detour. The new bridge was built onto the existing piers that were widened and secured with additional piles and pier caps, to provide support for the new bridge. There were significant challenges in the pile driving phase of the work: the piles did not reach capacity, so additional piles had to be added. Some open-ended piles were replaced with close-ended piles to provide more support with less depth.
During the winter of 2015/16, the contractor operated from an ice bridge that they had constructed. From that position, the contractor was able to drive piles and prepare for the sliding of the detour bridge.
Managed by Mike Newton, the on-site construction supervision team was led by Bill Smith, a former Ministry representative on bridge projects, and Ian Matthews as the project assistant. The work was completed in the fall of 2017.
