This report entitled “Bow River Bridge Near Gleichen, AB, After the Flood” submitted by Stantec
describes the weather pattern leading up to the flood, the damage to the bridge near Gleichen, AB caused by the flood, and what is being done to repair the bridge. The concrete abutment on the north end of the bridge was compromised during the flood in June 2013. The abutment was undermined and is now tilting and leaning along with approximately 60 m of road washed out at the north end. The initial scope was to rebuild the abutment and 60 m of road. In the preliminary stages of design the City of Medicine Hat donated an Acrow bridge to Alberta Transportation which will be used as an added span on the north end.
The Acrow bridge is 42 m (140 ft) long leaving approximately 20 m of roadway construction remaining. The existing bridge structure was built in 1907 and is a 3-53.3. m through truss structure. The bridge is a single lane bridge with a 5.1 m clear roadway. The new pier consists of 2-1219 mm drilled concrete filled steel pipe piles supporting w-beam pile caps. The abutment proposed is as per AT’s standard drawings for a steel substructure.
The roadway was designed to an Alberta Transportation RAU-208 standard cross section for a 30 km/hr design speed in the vicinity of the bridge. The highway transitions from an 8.3 m width to the 4.2 m clear roadway of the Acrow bridge limiting the design options to the site conditions in the 20 m stretch of road.
Construction started in April 2014 and work was expected to be completed by August 2014.
