September 20, 2020
When a set of three old culverts needed to be replaced under Township Road 722, about 33 km southwest of High Prairie, the project team went with a single, much larger culvert made from AIL’s Bolt-A-Plate Structural Steel Plate. Available in the widest variety of shapes and sizes, Bolt-A-Plate is obtainable on short lead times and is also very quick to install. In fact, it has really become the go-to replacement for old culverts and short span bridges in Canada.
To follow the creek alignment, the new culvert had to be installed at a 30° skew to the road. The new culvert featured step-beveled ends with a cast-in-place concrete collar on the upstream for better hydraulics.
Replacement culvert assembles in five days
Working within a six-week road closure, site work started on July 25, 2020 with Northsite Contractors’ excavation, removal of the old culverts and site preparation. The Bolt-A-Plate components were delivered on July 30. Assembly by Northsite’s subcontractor, R B Multi-Steel Construction, took place over five days, from August 6 to 11. Northsite completed backfilling and final gravelling of the road was completed on Sept. 8, 2020 — weeks ahead of the October 31 contractual completion date.
A special thanks to the owner and their consultant, MPA Engineering, for selecting this type of structure. Also, the Northsite / R B Multi-Steel team were great to work with. Kudos to them for quickly alerting us to an issue, which we were able to resolve the same day thanks to a quick run from our Westlock location only three hours away. Northsite’s representative shot us a quick e-mail:
“Thank you for your diligence and quick organization today. It’s greatly appreciated!”
Shaina Fersch, Health & Safety Coordinator / Field Administrator, Northsite Contractors Ltd.
