Parsnip River Bridge

The $5 million Parsnip River Bridge provides an economic export route coal trains from northeastern British Columbia to the Ridley Coal Terminal near Prince Rupert, British Columbia.

Crews began construction by establishing a remote jobsite camp and constructing an access road, which included a 1-kilometre section with grades in excess of 15 percent. The bridge is 170 metres long and includes one pier, two abutments, a steel-truss superstructure and a reinforced concrete deck. The river pier footing is founded on 72 steel H-piles inside a 13-metre by 14-metre by 10.6-metre-deep sheet pile cofferdam. The tremie seal and pier footing each required approximately 460 cubic metres of concrete.

The steel superstructure was completely assembled on the west approach and slowly winched out to the pier before being moved across to the east approach into final position. Launching the bridge across the river reduced impacts on the environment and allowed crews to pour alternating 7.6-metre sections of the main deck using an around-the-clock, three-shift schedule. Despite adverse weather conditions at a remote site within the protected wilderness, project personnel successfully completed the project in 13 months.