Golden Ears Bridge Project

As British ColumbiaÔÇÖs largest bridge construction project in over 20 years nears completion, project director Norm Tennock talks to Gay Sutton about the surprises and challenges of building an aesthetically pleasing structure that will ease congestion and complement the beauty of the surrounding areaJust to the east of Vancouver and set into a landscape of forests, meadows, watercourses and majestic mountains, the communities of Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge to the north and Langley and Surrey to the south are separated by the mighty Fraser River. But not for long. In June 2009, a three-and-a-half-year construction program will reach completion, and the Golden Ears Bridge will open to the public, directly joining the communities for the first time. In the long term, the new bridge is part of the growth plan for the region and is expected to lead to the creation of more than 700 new businesses. ItÔÇÖs the short-term benefit, though, that makes the project so popular among the local communities. There will be significant easing of congestion on the roads, and commuters who have regularly waited for an hour and a half during peak traffic times to catch the local ferry or have elected to take a long 40-minute detour to reach their destinations will find the direct journey much easier.The project is owned and sponsored by TransLink, the South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority, which is responsible for creating and managing an integrated transportation system in this area of Canada. But it is Golden Crossing General Partnership (GCGP) that has been contracted to manage every element of the construction program, from arranging the financing and commissioning the design and construction of the project to overseeing a 32-year term of operations management, maintenance and rehabilitation.Costing in excess of $1 billion, the construction segment of the project is 14 kilometers from end to end and includes a six-lane bridge, 1 km in length, with five spans set on four river piers and two side piers, and 4.65 km of additional structures including the approaches to the bridge and other crossings and viaducts. The balance of the work is the construction of 22 km of roads on either side linking the bridge with the communities.ÔÇ£ItÔÇÖs what is known as an extra-dosed cable-stayed bridge,ÔÇØ says Norm Tennock, project director for the GCGP. ItÔÇÖs an adaptation of the Alex Fraser cable-stayed bridge built further downstream in the 1980s.ÔÇ£WeÔÇÖre a little ahead of schedule at the moment,ÔÇØ says Tennock, ÔÇ£and we may in fact be finished by May despite several unexpected technical challenges.ÔÇØThe bridge itself is a feat of engineering, using elements of technology new to British Columbia. ÔÇ£Technically, construction has always been a challenge in the soft compressible soils in this area. And that was taken care of by the design of the piers,ÔÇØ Tennock says. The contractorsÔÇöGolden Crossing Constructors Joint Venture (GCCJV), a joint venture between Bilfinger Berger (Canada) and CH2M HILLÔÇöchose to use large-diameter bored piles, a technology that members of the project team had used recently on the My Thua Bridge in Vietnam. ÔÇ£We had anticipated using steel casing on the bored piles to a certain depth in the river bottom soils, and below that depth to be able to excavate without using casing. But some of the highest-risk areas on a bridge are in the river bottom foundations, and you donÔÇÖt know quite what to expect and how things will behave until you encounter them and deal with them. In the very first pier we encountered artesian flows into the pile.ÔÇØ The effect of this was that water welled up from the ground into what should have been dry excavation area for the bridge piles. ÔÇ£So we had to make considerable revisions,ÔÇØ he says, ÔÇ£procure more casing and dig to a deeper depth.ÔÇØThe adjustments were swiftly and efficiently made, with very little effect on completion deadlines. Delays, however, have not all been technical in nature. Quite early in the preparation of the sites, the remains of a 3,600-year-old First Nations settlement were discovered in the ground at the northern edge of the site where the Abernethy Connector was to be built. Work was halted for almost a year as archaeologists came in to survey and catalog the site. ÔÇ£The dig turned out to be one of the most significant archaeological finds in a long time,ÔÇØ he says. The excavations uncovered many valuable artifacts and provided unexpected evidence of ancient farming practices. The information has led to a complete rethinking of the theory that early native cultures were hunter-gatherers.Other anticipated problems, meanwhile, have been completely eradicated by the recent global economic downturn. In the early days of the project, the construction industry in British Columbia was booming, and the availability of labor was expected to be a huge problem. ÔÇ£So our contractor, GCCJV, took steps to import labor. What we have now is a combination of local and union labor and some imports brought in through the Immigration Canada program. Today, however, the economy is in the tank, so to speak, and labor is more readily available.ÔÇØNow that the project is nearing completion, its scale and design are easy to see. In responding to TransLinkÔÇÖs requirement that the project be developed incorporating an urban design aesthetic theme, GCGP proposed ÔÇÿthe History of this Place.ÔÇÖ ÔÇ£From the very first design briefing weÔÇÖve been trying to produce an aesthetically distinctive project corridor and structure,ÔÇØ Tennock says. Various design themes have been incorporated that link the bridge with the local history and geography. Golden Ears, the twin mountain peaks that look down on the bridge from the north and after which the structure is named, are home to the golden eagle. In recognition of this, the eagle has been chosen as a symbol for the bridge, and distinctive eagle sculptures have been incorporated into the bridge towers. Meanwhile, the bridge handrails or outer barriers have been designed to resemble the fish traps of the First Nations people that inhabited the area. ÔÇ£Aesthetics is not a hard science but an art,ÔÇØ Tennock explains, ÔÇ£and there are always a variety of opinions on something that is essentially artistic in nature. But the overall view of those who come to see the project is that it is outstanding in appearance.ÔÇØ TennockÔÇÖs work will be completed once he has ensured that the entire project is up and running and has overseen the handover to Capilano Highway Services, the company contracted to run the 32-year operations and maintenance contract. But he believes that ÔÇ£everybody involved in the project will be very proud of this showpiece structure.ÔÇØ ÔÇô Editorial research by Steven Shah┬á