ENGINEERS WEEK Bridge Work Done Right
SPECIAL REPORT ENGINEERS WEEK Bridge work done right Lewiston-Queenston makeover was done quickly, efficiently and with minimal traffic disruption Business First of Buffalo - February 20, 2006 by Dale English A law of physics stating that that the lesser can never contain the greater met its match last summer when, thanks to 21st century engineering and construction techniques, a fifth traffic lane was inserted into the majestically arched Lewiston-Queenston Bridge with hardly a ripple of problem. It was done so quickly and efficiently and with such minimal traffic disruption, even during peak summer travel time, that some might be tempted to ask, "What if they rebuilt a bridge and nobody noticed?" And it was done in minimal time-11 months-through winter's cold and summer's heat, snow and wind, in daylight and gloom of night. Workers were double-shifted and for some, "Saturday Night Live" was an eight- or 10-hour date with a jackhammer on the bridge deck. 'Miserable' timetable "It was a miserable timetable," said Tom Garlock, general manager for the Niagara Falls Bridge Commission , the customer on the job costing about $45 million Canadian. Agreed, said two principals in the project, Kenneth Rawe, vice president of Oakgrove Construction Inc. , of Elma, and Bill Snow, construction engineer for Rankin Construction Inc. , of St. Catharines, Ont. Rankin was the prime contractor with Oakgrove, as its subcontractor, handling all work on the American side of the bridge. Both men are professional engineers. The problem was the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge-known as Queenston- Lewiston in Canada - simply wasn't big enough anymore to handle its daily traffic load.
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