Jacking of the Gaetz Ave over Highway 2 Bridge (BF 75331)

The Gaetz Ave over Highway 2 Bridge (BF 75331) was constructed in 2018. The bridge is a curved two span (83-77 m) steel plate girder superstructure supported on concrete substructures. During construction of the fingerplate joint, it was found to be outside of Alberta Transportation tolerance limits. Flatiron retained GeoMetrix to provide engineering support during jacking to permit resetting and heat treatment of the finger joints.

GeoMetrix evaluated the site conditions for jacking including available space on the abutment seats, jacking alignment and position, shim plate requirements, and lift height required. Structural analysis was carried out to see the effect on the superstructure of a 25 mm lift at the abutment, which is much higher than the permissible lifting limit on the design drawings (3 mm). The jacking procedure and jacking drawings were tailored for the required conditions to permit the 25 mm lift at each abutment.