Trans-Canada Hghwy in Ont closed indefinitely
For those who may be traveling the Trans-Canada highway in the near future... A newly constructed bridge in northern Ontario has reportedly split apart in the cold, closing the Trans-Canada highway...
Forum Discussion
According to the news reports this is a cable stayed bridge, and the split, or rather displacement, is at one end, where the bridge meets the abutment - in other words at an expansion joint. The bridge was never connected to the abutment - by design.
Often displacements like this are the result of support piers/pilings shifting, either due to erosion or dumping (the recent Delaware freeway bridge case). But a cable stayed bridge would not have piers close to this end.
One witness talked of a gust of wind blowing the end of the bridge up in the air, followed by it settling back down (but not all the way). That reminds me of wind loading issues with a Tacoma narrow bridge. But since there was a sudden cold snap as well, I suspect steel cable contraction might have had something to do with it. The exposed cables would have contracted faster than the bridge deck.
Cable stayed bridges are common around the world. Vancouver has several new ones of that type. But most are in milder climates.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/nipigon-river-bridge-bolts-1.3399777
Talks of bolts snaping, but also about things like cable contraction.
Often displacements like this are the result of support piers/pilings shifting, either due to erosion or dumping (the recent Delaware freeway bridge case). But a cable stayed bridge would not have piers close to this end.
One witness talked of a gust of wind blowing the end of the bridge up in the air, followed by it settling back down (but not all the way). That reminds me of wind loading issues with a Tacoma narrow bridge. But since there was a sudden cold snap as well, I suspect steel cable contraction might have had something to do with it. The exposed cables would have contracted faster than the bridge deck.
Cable stayed bridges are common around the world. Vancouver has several new ones of that type. But most are in milder climates.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/nipigon-river-bridge-bolts-1.3399777
Talks of bolts snaping, but also about things like cable contraction.
