April 7, 2009

PCR CONSTRUCTION

The deck of the Talbot Trail Bridge is full structural precast, allowing for significant time savings in installation versus cast-in-place methods.

Concrete Technology

PCR Contractors win 2008 Ontario Concrete Award for Talbot Trail Bridge

IAN HARVEY

correspondent

When Paolo Collavino discovered his PCR Contractors had garnered a 2008 Ontario Concrete Award to their The Talbot Trail Bridge in Essex County, he could hardly believe it.

Not that winning the award wasn’t a nice surprise — it just wasn’t what he expected to win for.

“I thought for sure the Windsor Family Credit Union Centre (the new $63 million hockey arena downtown) was a no-brainer,” he laughs. “I put all my effort into that write-up and entry and did the bridge never thinking it would win anything.”

The project marks a concerted effort by Collavino to get the family construction empire back into the business of building bridges locally, so it’s a bonus that it comes at a time when he’s also looking to upgrade their Ministry of Transportation Ontario certification.

“Before my father went overseas, Collavino Construction Company did a lot of this kind of work,” he says. “But then he went over for projects in Africa, UAE and Yemen and we didn’t go after them as much. Our MTO certification lapsed. But one of my goals six years ago with PCR was to get back to it and while we haven’t bid any MTO projects, we have done some municipal projects and this was one of them.”

The two companies along with other affiliates like International Precast Solutions in Michigan are part of the Collavino Group, a full-service construction enterprise in ICI, recreational, high rise and heavy civil sectors.

The Talbot Bridge runs over the east branch of two creeks in Wheatley, in Chatham-Kent, Ont.

It required removal of an existing twin culvert structure and replacing it with a new ridged frame, clear span concrete structure about 3.5 metres high by an 11 metre span with a 22 metre width in two phases to maintain traffic volumes along Highway 3.

The original design was a ridged frame cast-in-place concrete using traditional forming and casting methods.

But to shave time, PCR and HGS Consulting Engineers suggested converting the 11-metre deck span from a concrete structure to a full structural precast pre-stressed system, designed to act as the precast arched portion of a composite final two-hinged frame.

The precast portion also doubled as a permanent form for the final composite frame.

The arched precast components were pre-tensioned in the span direction and post-tensioned in both the span and perpendicular-to-span directions to achieve complete diaphragm action and live load resisting frame action along the span of the bridge.

“The time to erect the precast units for Phase One was about one day to erect the units and a second day to post-tension and grout the pieces in place,” says Collavino.

“Topping and approach slabs were placed within a few days after.”

Using traditional cast-in-place methods it would have been about three to four weeks to complete each phase, he says.

“We were also able to eliminate the use of large screed equipment and the accommodations that would have been required since the deck pieces were placed with a crane and complete erection took only three hours,” he says. Even though it was a winter job, they eliminated any heating requirements since the pre-cast were produced in a controlled environment manufacturing plant.

“It really is the future,” he says. “But they’re a little reluctant to use pre-cast as much here in Canada, though that is changing. On a recent $4.5 million job we were able to save the owner $300,000 going to pre-cast and eliminating the brick and siding facia. In the States it’s all pre cast...we’re doing a condo in New Jersey and it’s 100 per cent pre cast.”

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