Flatiron Successfully Installs Farrell Creek Bridge Girders Connecting Highway 29 in British Columbia

We’re excited to share another important milestone achieved by Flatiron’s Highway 29 – Farrell Creek Project team. On April 7, 2022, the Flatiron team successfully completed the erection of the steel bridge girders.

The girder erection work started in late January 2022, following the construction of the substructure completed in October 2021. In about two and a half months, the team successfully placed 39 steel girders on top of the piers over Farrell Creek, connecting Highway 29 from the east to west.

The following is a snapshot of some of the highlights of the girder erection work:

• Flatiron erected a total of 1,115,000 kg (2,453,000 lbs.) of structural steel.
• The heaviest steel girder erected weighed 42,000 kg (92,400 lbs.).
• The heaviest pick (including girder, bracing, rigging etc.) weighed 54,500 kg (120,000 lbs.).
• The longest pick radius was 240 ft.
• The total number of bolts installed was 13,668.
• The work was completed safely!

“The team had to endure extreme weather conditions while keeping the operations going,” said Matt McElligott, Project Engineer at Flatiron. “Given these challenges, the team needed to take additional steps to ensure the safety of the workers and to complete the work without incident.”

Additionally, during the structural steel erection operations, the team also developed and implemented an innovative temporary tie-down and bracing system to keep the girders stable throughout the entire process.

“We’re very proud of the team for achieving this important milestone,” said David Tain, Project Manager of the Highway 29 – Farrell Creek Project. “The team went through multiple challenges such as extreme weather conditions and tight schedules. So we had to be very flexible on scheduling to accommodate all kinds of situations.”

The completion of this important milestone was also resulted from the great collaboration with multiple stakeholder teams including the project teams from the owner’s side and the subcontractors.

With the girders in place, the project is scheduled to move on to erecting precast panels and forming the deck in the upcoming months with deck pour work planned to start in June 2022. The entire Farrell
Creek Project is scheduled to be completed October this year.

About the project:

The Farrell Creek Project is a part of the Highway 29 realignment program, which was funded by B.C. Hydro and administered by B.C. Ministry of Transportation (B.C. MOTi) in order to accommodate the Site C reservoir and connect the community of Hudson’s Hope with the Alaska Highway and Fort St. John. The entire realignment program consists of 7 segments (Cache Creek East, Cache Creek West, Halfway River, Farrell Creek East, Farrell Creek, Dry Creek and Lynx). The Farrell Creek project site is located 16 kilometers east of Hudson Hope.

Valued at approximately $40 million (CAD), the project started in October 2020 amid the pandemic and is scheduled to finish in late 2022. The new alignment mainly involves construction of a 1.45-kilometer highway and a 417-meter-long bridge over Farrell Creek Valley.