Champlain Bridge is among Montreal’s main road links and Canada’s busiest bridge, with an average 136,000 crossings per day. Due to extreme climate conditions and the use of road salt on the pavement, it is suffering progressive deterioration that maintenance and repair processes have not been able to stop.

Open since 1962, the existing Champlain Bridge is one of Montreal’s main road links and Canada’s busiest bridge, with an average of 136,000 crossings per day. Due to extreme climate conditions in Montreal and the use of road salt on the pavement, the bridge is suffering a progressive deterioration that maintenance and repair processes have not been able to stop.

Since 2015, the Signature on the Saint Lawrence Group, (formed by SNC-Lavalin, ACS and Hochtief), has been working on the construction of the New Champlain Bridge that is located parallel to the current bridge, which is still open to traffic. The new bridge will feature a spectacular 448-foot tall pylon that is being built with the support of the 21LC550 crane.

The Linden Comansa 21LC550 tower crane arrived in September 2017 and was erected on the deck of the bridge with a height under hook of 222 feet. When the work of the crane ends, the crane will be 591 feet tall from the base of the pylon and 403 feet from the deck of the bridge. The 21LC550 has maximum load capacity of 55,120 pounds. It will lift precast concrete structures and formwork panels.

Before the tower crane was erected, Sarens was on the project installing 38 footings that weighed between 600 and 1,000 metric tons. Sarens developed the Floating Foundation Installer (FFI), a self-propelled catamaran that can lift, transport and install the foundations.

“The Champlain Bridge Project was challenging from the start,” said Mike Hussey, regional director of North America for Sarens. “A special installation vessel had to be designed because standard lifting systems could not handle the combination of the following factors: strong current, high weights and specific dimensions of footing elements, very accurate positioning of footing elements in the river and shallow draft of the St. Lawrence River. With these specific factors in mind, we designed the Sarens FFI.

The FFI’s design includes a thruster system for moving in high current, a winch system for positioning of barge above foundations; a strand jack system for lifting and lowering of footings; a circular rail system for rotation of the footing elements, and a skidding system for precision position of the footing elements.

“With the addition of a global team of operational specialists, we were able to flawlessly position all footings safely and within the required tolerances,” said Hussey. The New Champlain Bridge is expected to open by year-end 2018.

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