Bridge project on track to meet 2018 deadline: consortium
All footings to be in place by end of summer, so posts can be assembled
Thor the Ant: that’s the name given to the immense made- to- order machine used to carry some of the pieces that will form the new Champlain Bridge.
Thor’s task is to move the immense concrete blocks that will serve as the bases for the posts — also known as pier legs — that will hold up the new bridge.
Named by 10- and 11- year- old children attending a community- run after- school program in Verdun, Thor has 20 wheels, the type used on 747 jets, to support the weight of the blocks, known as footings.
Reporters got a tour of the work site Friday and saw huge enclosed tents where crews were pouring the concrete for the footings. The tents are closed off and heated from the inside to allow the concrete to stay warm while it cures.
The footings are square blocks that weigh 650 tonnes and measure 11 metres wide, 11 metres long and two metres thick.
The bridge will be made up of 74 footings, 38 of which will be built at the huge work site that juts into the St. Lawrence River on the Nuns’ Island side. Six have already been built.
Starting next month, Thor will move the footings onto massive catamarans from which they’ll be lowered into the spots where crews have dug foundations for them at the bottom of the river.
The 36 other footings will be made by pouring concrete directly into foundations in the river bed. It’s expected that by the end of summer, all the footings will be in place so crews can start assembling the posts.
The footings will have steel ca- bles coming out of them, and the posts will be attached like Lego pieces. After a block is attached to the footing, the cables will be tightened to hold it in place. The posts will be assembled by fitting together many pieces of concrete.
The project also requires a huge amount of steel, for the cablestayed portion of the bridge ( the highest part of the bridge, supported by massive steel cables). About 250 cubic metres of steel are needed.
Much of that will be transported by ship from Spain. Shipments of steel will be unloaded onto barges in the Montreal Port. The barges will then be pulled by a special tugboat that’s attached to a cable. Because the current is too strong for a barge to travel through, the tugboat will be pulled along a distance of two kilometres to get to the work site.
Officials for the $ 4.24- billion project say they are on track to complete the bridge on time and on budget. Warm weather this winter has helped, they say.
“In the winter with the wind, and the cold, it adds to the challenge,” said Daniel Genest, director of co- ordination for Signature on the Saint Lawrence — the private consortium building the new bridge.
Crews have to ensure poured concrete stays warm while it cures, he explained.
Digging up the river bed is also more difficult when there is ice. And workers also have to take more breaks when it’s cold.
But the biggest challenge for the consortium isn’t working in winter — it’s meeting the Dec. 1, 2018, deadline to complete the bridge. The consortium faces penalties starting at $ 100,000 per day if the project is delayed.