Photo courtesy ACI
Mission Bridge in Abbotsford, B.C., won first place in the repair and restoration category for the American Concrete Institute’s (ACI’s) first-ever concrete excellence awards.
Originally built in 1973, the four-lane, 1-km (0.6-mi) bridge crosses the Fraser River and is located in a high seismic zone. The retrofit included improvements to the superstructure, such as column- and beam-strengthening, concrete reinforcement, a new seismic restraint system, and new deck joints. The ground also needed strengthening through densification, installing an earthquake drainage system, and slope stabilization. It acts as a critical link in the province’s disaster recovery network and is one of nine major crossings prioritized for seismic retrofit.
First-place winners were chosen based on architectural and engineering merit, creativity, innovative construction, techniques or solutions, innovative use of materials, ingenuity, sustainability and resilience, and functionality. The Abbotsford project was submitted by the B.C. Chapter of ACI.
For a full list of winners, click here. For an in-depth look at concrete repair strategies, see the Construction Canada article by Alexander M. Vaysburd and Benoît Bissonnette.
This bridge is an excellent example of the abilities of Canadian Innovation, and illustrates internationally that Canada is a world leader in architecture and engineering.