Samuel De Champlain Bridge engineers honoured for use of precast concrete
March 6, 2020
By CCE
Photo credit: PCI.
The Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute (PCI) has presented a 2020 Design Award to SNC-Lavalin, T.Y. Lin International, Systra International Bridge Technologies (Systra IBT) and Infrastructure Canada for their work on Montreal’s new Samuel De Champlain Bridge.
The project was carried out through a public-private partnership (P3) agreement between the federal government and the Signature on the Saint Lawrence Group, a consortium that included joint venture (JV) partners SNC-Lavalin, T.Y. Lin International and Systra IBT, along with ACS Infrastructure Canada, Hochtief PPP Solutions North America, Dragados Canada, Flatiron Construction Canada, MMM Group (part of WSP) and EBC. This group provided design, construction, financing, operations and maintenance (O&M) and rehabilitation for the project.
The 3.4-km twin cable-stayed bridge opened to traffic in 2019, replacing the original Champlain Bridge over the Saint Lawrence River to connect the island of Montreal to the South Shore suburbs. Three independent superstructures feature 9,600 precast concrete deck panels.
Meanwhile, to help meet environmental goals, precast concrete footings were used to reduce impact on the river. Overall, the project required 154,000 tonnes of concrete and, according to PCI, was delivered 50% faster than would have been possible with cast-in-place concrete.
The PCI Design Awards are intended to recognize innovative, sustainable, cost-effective, esthetically pleasing and rapidly constructed projects. The replacement bridge has also won awards from the Canadian Institute for Steel Construction (CISC), the American Council of Engineering Companies in California (ACEC – California), the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI) and the National Council of Structural Engineers Associations (NCSEA).
