The end of a landmark project

With the end of 2012 comes the completion of a huge project for AGF Steel Longueuil, the Highway 30 extension. It was officially opened on December 15.

Since it was the largest project ever awarded as a single contract in Quebec, we thought it would be interesting to present a few statistics to demonstrate the scope of the rebar work we all did together.

By the time the project was completed 43,000 MT of rebar had been installed. The project consisted of 28 overpasses, three bridges, a tollbooth, a tunnel and a pumping station; all completed over a 38-month period. The Highway 30 extension spans a distance of 42 km between Châteauguay and Vaudreuil-Dorion.

At the height of construction, more than 34 supervisors and 160 placers were on the job simultaneously. Our head superintendent, Fred Sampson, and his six foremen made sure everything went smoothly for the workers.

The most impressive step in the project was beyond a doubt the launch of the box girders that support the slab of the Beauharnois Canal Bridge, 1.5 km long and 50 metres high above the St. Lawrence Seaway. It is the world’s second-longest incrementally launched bridge. For the rebar in the piers, we won’t soon forget the technical difficulties that arose with the many blisters that anchored the post-tensioning system. There was so much congestion that the installers were no longer able to get their hands through the frame to attach the bars!

Our plant employees produced some 4 million reinforcing bars for this project. If all these bars were placed end to end, their total length would be 18.2 million metres, a little more than the distance from Montreal to Sydney, Australia. As well, our workers threaded more than 50,000 bars.

AGF Steel’s pre-assembly expertise was also put to good use throughout the project. A total of 174 piles (with the longest at 26 metres), 90 pile heads as well as 150 piers were prefabricated in the plant.
At our offices, eight technicians worked on preparing the 1,800 drawings required for the overall project.

More than 2,900 deliveries were made to the worksite, which involved crane operators, lift-truck operators and drivers.

AGF Group’s Scaffolding and Access division also contributed to the project. AGF Du-For provided more than 20 lift platforms and hundreds of metres of scaffolding so employees could safely work high up on the piers and crossbeams of the Beauharnois Canal Bridge.

With everyone’s efforts, we were able to bring this project to completion. We have much to be proud of!