A one-of-a-kind under-bridge traveling platform designed and built by BrandSafway will provide access for the final construction stages of the Bow River Bridge twinning project in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
The bridge is being built by Flatiron-Aecon Joint Venture. The project is building a second, twin, bridge alongside and existing bridge in northwestern Calgary for the Calgary Ring Road.
BrandSafway’s Major Projects Group (MPG) and Infrastructure Services Group designed and built the truss frame.
The unique, triangular truss frame system was custom-designed for Flatiron-Aecon to provide safe access to the underside of the bridge for several workers at a time. Retractable extensions let the truss frame travel around piers without having to dismantle the platform.
Patent-pending launching extensions, which are now available to the bridge market, will allow the entire 112’-long, 32’-wide, C-frame structure to move back and forth along the bridge’s 1,542’ length.
The platform consists of two half-truss frame platforms mounted securely to the manually operating top bridge deck carriages.
Each half-platform is equipped with triangular launching trusses that are extended and retracted manually as the system travels across four bridge piers. Traditional Systems Scaffold, located on each half of the fixed truss platform, provides access to the underside of the bridge segments.
"This solution proves, once again, that BrandSafway can meet the widest range of project demands, where safety and efficiency are high priorities," said Alex Di Domenico, managing director, BrandSafway, MPG. "We started working with Flatiron-Aecon in 2019 at the beginning of the Bow River Bridge twinning project by providing stairs and engineering services. Now, we’re proud to be designing and fabricating an innovative access solution for its completion."
“BrandSafway has provided the most efficient solution for our challenging access requirements to the underside of the bridge,” said Kyle Hendrikx, bridge manager for Flatiron-Aecon Joint Venture. “With their platform, we will be significantly more efficient with less downtime to our operations.’’
"BrandSafway’s patent-pending Truss Frame System provides the flexibility, mobility and low cost of a movable platform system, while eliminating need for hoists and cranes to traverse around bridge piers,” said Mathieu Grumberg, director of North American Product Development for BrandSafway and the engineer who designed and developed the innovative solution for the twinning project.
Flatiron-Aecon's West Bow River Bridge twinning project has been tendered at a cost of CAD$89 million. According to Aecon, the Bow River Bridge twinning project is a key component in the completion of the Calgary Ring Road and will provide vital transportation infrastructure for growing communities in Greater Calgary. When complete, the entire Calgary Ring Road will provide travelers with 101 kilometers (62.75 mi.) of free-flow travel.
AlumaSafway, which provides the broadest range of forming, shoring, scaffolding, work access and industrial service solutions to industrial, commercial, and infrastructure customers in Canada, will manage the delivery of site services for BrandSafway in Alberta. BrandSafway's new under-bridge traveler access platform will be in use on the Bow River Bridge twinning project in 2022 and 2023.
Lift & Access is part of the Catalyst Communications Network publication family.
