Edmontons New Walterdale Bridge

C. James Montgomery, Dr., PEng.; Kris Lima, PEng.; Steven Prozniak, PEng., DIALOG, Alberta, Canada;
Shiraz Kanji, PEng., The City of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Contact: jmontgomery@designdialog.ca
DOI: 10.2749/101686617X14676303588599

Abstract
Replacing an existing century-old truss
bridge in the North Saskatchewan
River Valley, the new Walterdale
Bridge is a signature structure located
in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The
new bridge is a twin through-arch steel
structure, spanning 206 m from bank
to bank. It carries three lanes of north-
bound trafc, a sidewalk and a sepa-
rate shared-use path for pedestrians
and cyclists. The steel arch ribs are
founded on thrust blocks that resist
axial forces and moments by the inter-
action of inclined footings and micro-
pile anchors with the surrounding
bedrock. Construction of the ribs pro-
ceeded in stages by supporting the end
sections from towers on berms,
transporting the assembled central sec-
tions on the river by oating them on
barges, lifting the ribs into their nal
position and connecting them to the
previously erected end sections. The
deck and shared-use path were stick-
built starting from each abutment and
moving towards the mid-span by
sequentially supporting new sections
from previously erected members.
Keywords: arch bridge; through-arch;
structural steel; shared-use path;
thrust blocks.
Introduction
The new Walterdale Bridge is a signa-
ture structure located in the heart of
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Span-
ning the North Saskatchewan River,
the bridge blends with its natural set-
ting and creates a landmark gateway
to the citys downtown. It replaced an
existing three-span truss bridge that
had opened in 1913 to carry roadway
trafc and a street railway across the
river.
A structural steel, twin through-arch
replacement structure was selected to
carry three lanes of northbound traf-
c, a sidewalk to the west of the road-
way and a separate shared-use path to
the east across the river. The support-
ing arch ribs span 206 m from bank to
bank between thrust blocks founded
on clay shale bedrock.
F i g. 1 : Rendering of the Walterdale Bridge concept, facing north towards downtown
Edmonton
The construction of the bridge and
approach roadways commenced in
June 2013.
Concept Planning Study
and Preliminary Design
A concept planning study considered
25 approach roadway options along
with four bridge alternatives for the
river crossing: a three-span haunched
box-girder; a three-span two-tower
extra-dosed structure; a single-span
arch; and a single-tower cable-stayed
structure. After extensive public con-
sultation and concept review by the
project team, the Edmonton City
Council decided to proceed to a pre-
liminary design with a functional
signature arch bridge. The objective
of including a shared-use path on the
bridge to allow pedestrians and bicy-
clists using the trail system in the
North Saskatchewan River Valley to
cross the river was identied as an
important design requirement.
Three arch alternatives were evalu-
ated in preliminary design: (a) a con-
ventional twin through-arch bridge
with a sidewalk and shared-use path
outside the planes of the cables that
support the deck; (b) a twin through-
arch bridge with a sidewalk inside the
plane of cables that support the deck
on the west side and a separate
curved shared-use path in plan view
on the east side; and (c) a single-arch
bridge with a curved roadway deck in
plan view and a sidewalk on the east
side balanced by a separate curved
shared-use path on the west side.
Figure 1 shows alternative (b) that
was selected to achieve optimal bal-
ance of aesthetics, cost and
constructability.
Design Details
The bridge was designed using the
provisions of the Canadian Highway
Bridge Design Code1 for a CL-800
design truck and lane loading.
Figure 2 shows the general arrange-
ment of the bridge. With a length of
230 m between abutment centrelines,
the bridge deck is suspended by
cables from two arch ribs that are fab-
ricated from structural steel plate into
box-shaped sections. The arch ribs
span between the thrust blocks that
are founded on clay shale bedrock in
the river banks, and vary in cross-
sectional size from approximately 2.5
m 2.5 m with 100 mm plate thick-
nesses at the base to 1.4 m 1.4 m
with 75 mm plate thicknesses at the

20 Technical Report Structural Engineering International Nr. 1/2017

 r an
C
L South C
L Arch

ve
CL Arch CL North abut

at rth
Edge of

k
Abut Support Support

Ri chew
s
river

Sa No
12 000 206000 12 000

N
Gabion
Wall C
L Midspan
Arch rib
Top strut, typ Deck

16750
CL Structure

L Structure
C
10+900 11+000
2600 2600

16750
15700

33096
33096
CL Shared use path
A
Shared use path Edge of river
Roadway (Sup) C Pi Roadway
r L er
CL Pie Control line hanger
Gabion wall

CL Sup
Limit of riprap Path
4750 Path Limit of riprap Plan Retaining wall

Structural Engineering International Nr. 1/2017

C L Arch
L South C
CL Arch C L North Roadway
abut support C
L midspan support abut hanger
43000

12 000 206000 12 000

Sub
10 11 12 hanger
9 13
Hanger, typ 8 14
7 15 CL rdwy
16 control CL sup
6
line
17 Clearance box Varies
5 10000
Typ 4600 14000 clear roadway From 4200
18 Walk 1200 1200 To 8000

43000
4 High water level 2200
3700 3700 4200
El. 623. 700
Lane Lane Lane
3 19
Sta 11+068.613
El.628.833

20
10200 10200

Sta 10+838.634
El.627.223
2

21
1 Approx finished grade Average water
along c structure El. 614.800 A Section
Approx l
existing
ground
El. 611.307 Approx. existing riverbed El. 612.749

Thrust block Elevation

F i g. 2 : Walterdale Bridge: General arrangement (for clarity, shared-use path not shown in elevation) (Units: Dimensions [mm], Elevations [m])

Technical Report
21
crown. The arch ribs are connected
together by struts above the roadway
and by deck support beams. The deck
is a concrete slab supported by struc-
tural steel wide-ange stringers, plate
girder oor beams with a depth that
varies to achieve a roadway crown for
drainage and box-shaped edge gir-
ders. The deck has an asphaltic con-
crete pavement wearing surface with
a membrane adhered to the slab in
order to protect the structure from
moisture-containing chlorides.
The shared-use path is supported by
the top ange of a 1.4 m deep
trapezoidal shaped, curved box-girder
fabricated from structural steel plate.
The girder is supported on the abut-
ments at the north and south river
banks, on the delta piers near the
waters edge (Fig. 1), by cable hangers
from the east arch rib and by oor
beam extensions from the main bridge
deck near mid-span (see Plan and
Section in Fig. 2). Concrete ballast
is placed in the girder sections over
the delta piers and near the abut-
ments to avoid uplift under unbal-
anced live loading. To enhance the
journey of pedestrians and cyclists
across the river, the shared-use path
has a clear width of 8 m at the banks
and 4.2 m near mid-span with a com-
bination of polymer modied asphalt
and timber deck wearing surfaces.
Reference [2] presents a summary of
the detailed design of the bridge.
Foundation Construction
The arch ribs are founded on thrust
blocks resting on clay shale bedrock.
Each thrust block resists axial forces
and moments by the combined action
F ig . 3: Construction of arch rib thrust block
22 Technical Report
of an inclined footing with plan
dimensions of 9 m 10.5 m in the
bearing and 44200 mm diameter
micropile anchors embedded 18 m
into the bedrock. Although it is
described as extremely weak to very
weak in rock mechanics terminology
(compressive strength of intact rock is
less than 5 MPa), the predicted foun-
dation movements are small as the
clay shale is heavily over-
consolidated.
Figure 3 shows the construction of
one of the thrust blocks in a braced
excavation that is 18 m deep with plan
dimensions of approximately 16 m
14 m. Each heavily reinforced thrust
block is attached to a structural steel
arch rib above grade by means of a
cast-in-place concrete support leg that
is connected to the rib with 58 high-
strength thread bars that are 65 mm
in diameter.
15) were assembled on intermediate
towers on the south bank of the river
Steel Fabrication and Shipping
The structural steel for the bridge
was manufactured, fabricated and
coated in South Korea. Although
the weldable notch tough structural
steel used for the bridge generally
has a 350 MPa yield strength, steel
with a 480 MPa yield is used for
the oor beam extensions that par-
tially support the shared use path
near mid-span (Fig. 2). All exterior
steel surfaces are protected with a
three-coat zinc/epoxy/polyurethane
system.
Figure 4 shows the trial assembly of
the central portion of one of the arch
ribs. Arch rib segments, each about
10 m long, are typically bolted
together. At lower elevations easily
F i g. 4: Trial assembly of arch ribs
Structural Engineering International Nr. 1/2017
viewed from the deck, the segments
are connected by full-strength welds
that are more visually appealing.
The structural steel elements of the
bridge were shipped from South
Korea to ports on the west coast of
Canada and the USA. Depending on
their size, the elements were then
transported via trucks or sent by rail
to the site in Edmonton.
Arch Rib Erection
Each arch rib is made up of 21 seg-
ments, numbered sequentially from
1 through 21 starting at the south con-
crete support leg (see Elevation in
Fig. 2). The arch ribs were assembled
and lifted into their nal position in
two stages.
For the rst lift, the central sections of
both arch ribs (Segments 7 through
and connected together with struts.
The ends of these sections were
joined with temporary tension ties,
and supported on skids resting on
rails. Once the tension ties were
stressed, the intermediate towers were
removed and the sections were skid-
ded on the rails to barges in the river.
Because the level of the water was
low, the river bed was dredged to
allow the barges to be pulled into
position by cables connected to tem-
porary anchors and to the piers of the
existing bridge.
Simultaneously with the assembly of
the central sections on the south bank,
Segments 4, 5 and 6 and Segments
18, 17 and 16 were erected on tempo-
rary towers resting on berms, respec-
tively, extending from the south and
Fi g. 5: Navigation of arch ribs
Fi g. 7: Second arch lift
north banks into the river. With the
berms in place approximately 50% of
the channel was open to ow.
Figure 5 shows the navigation of the
central sections of the arch ribs from
the south bank to the edges of tempo-
rary berms. The towers supporting the
arch ribs on the barges, the tension
ties between the ends of the arch ribs
and a few of the cables used to move
the barges are apparent in the gure.
This operation, which required careful
risk control planning, was completed
successfully by the contractor as ice
was starting to form on the river in
the late autumn of 2015.
Figure 6 shows the rst lift where the
central sections of the arch ribs
(Segments 7 through 15) were hoisted
into position using lifting towers that
were supported on the edges of the
berms. Once in position, the central
sections were connected to Segments
4, 5 and 6 and Segments 18, 17 and
Structural Engineering International Nr. 1/2017
F i g. 6 : First arch lift
F i g. 8 : Deck erection
16 on the south and north berms,
respectively.
After the bolted connections were
made between Segments 6 and 7 and
Segments 15 and 16, new lower-ten-
sion ties were placed between the
ends of Segments 4 and 18. The upper
tension ties required for navigation
and the rst lift were then removed.
For the second lift, Segments 1, 2 and
3 and Segments 21, 20 and 19 were
rst assembled on temporary towers
resting on the south and north berms,
respectively. The lifting towers were
repositioned to Segments 3 and 19.
As shown in Fig. 7, Segments
4 through 18 were then hoisted into
position for connection to Segments
1, 2 and 3 and Segments 21, 20 and
19 resting on the concrete support
legs. Finally, welded connections were
completed between Segments 3 and
4 and between 18 and 19, and the
lower tension tie was removed.
Deck and Shared Use Path
Erection
The deck edge girders, oor beams
and stringers were erected sequen-
tially, starting from the abutments and
moving towards mid-span, using
cranes on the berms. Bolted connec-
tions were used for the assembly of
the deck segments. Hanger cables
between the arch ribs and edge gir-
ders were installed as the segments
were erected. Figure 8 shows the par-
tially completed erection of the deck
structural steel.
Starting from mid-span and moving
towards the abutments, concrete for
the deck slab was cast in three pours.
At the time of writing, the shared-use
path has not been erected. The Con-
tractor plans to erect it sequentially,
starting from the ends of the berms
and moving back towards the abut-
ments. Once the abutments have been
Technical Report 23
reached, the erection will continue
from the edges of the berms moving
towards mid-span. The end segments
are to be supported from temporary
scaffolding on the berms and the mid-
span segments are to be erected from
cranes on the berms. All of the con-
nections between shared-use path seg-
ments are to be welded.
Conclusion
The new Walterdale Bridge is a twin
through-arch rib steel structure carry-
ing three lanes of north-bound trafc,
a sidewalk and a separate shared-use
path across the North Saskatchewan
River. Because of its location in the
central and main part of Edmonton,
great care was taken by an integrated
team of bridge engineers, civil engi-
neers, architects and landscape archi-
tects to develop an aesthetically
24 Technical Report
inspiring design for the bridge that
will stand the test of time. SEI Data Block
With the help of erection engineers, Owner:
The City of Edmonton
creative ways of constructing the
bridge foundations, navigating and Design and Contract Administration
lifting the arch ribs into position, and Services:
erecting the deck and shared-use path ISL Engineering and Land Services
were developed, often under challeng- DIALOG
ing winter conditions in the harsh COWI North America Ltd.
Canadian climate. (formerly Buckland & Taylor Ltd.)
Al-Terra Engineering Ltd.
References Contractor:
Acciona Pacer Joint Venture
[1] Canadian Standards Association. Canadian
Highway Bridge Design Code, CAN/CSA-S6- Structural Steel Fabricator:
06, including Supplement No. 1, 2010, and Sup- Daewoo International Corporation
plement No.2, 2011, 2006. with work subcontracted to Hyundai
[2] Montgomery CJ, Gagnon D, Clare D, Engineering & Steel Industries Co.,
Lima K, Ghoneim G, Griezic A, Kanji S. Wal- Ltd.
terdale Bridge replacement. Proceedings of the
NASCC: The Steel Conference, National Steel
Steel (t): 4900
Bridge Alliance, World Steel Bridge Symposium
Sessions (WSBS). AISC, Toronto, Canada;
Concrete (m3) 6300
Chicago, 2014. Hanger cables (t): 32
Construction cost (C$ million): 126
Overall project cost 155
(C$ million):
Service date: 2017
Structural Engineering International Nr. 1/2017