The HWY 2 & Gaetz Avenue interchange on the north side of Gasoline Alley in Red Deer provide some challenges with alignment and traffic volume. The challenge was the high skew of the bridge and the amount of lanes below the structure required a very narrow pier. The solution was the maximize the strength of steel and cantilever the steel pier diaphragm to support the two outside girders. This required complex road geometry and alignment and innovative solutions with a cantilevered steel pier design to support the outside girder lines to maximize the road clearance below. Because of the complexity, a complete trial fit-up including the bearings was required prior to final installation on site. The complication of the geometry and congestion of all the framing required a complete trial fit-up of the girders, pier diaphragms and bearing to ensure an excellent on site construction and final placement.
Quality of the workmanship was a must, and the Supreme workforce started by fabrication and match drilling various elements in a sequence that would be repeated two more times. The first alignment and fit-up allowed for the fabrication and drilling of girders, splice plates and bearing plates. After initial fit-up, elements were taken away from final welding to their shippable girders and diaphragms. After welding, all shippable elements were p ensure-assembled into the final condition in Supreme’s yard to verify geometry and finalized the bearing alignments and bearings were welded as required. After this stage, the structure was disassembled and shipped to site for final assembly. The precision of fabrication was key to supplying the customer a structure that will ensure over 7 years of traffics abuse and harsh weather.
