Rideau River Pedestrian Bridge

The Rideau River Bridge is located beside O-Train Line 2 and provides pedestrians and cyclists with an easy connection between Carleton University and Vincent Massey Park. It also offers access to the RA Centre, Hog’s Back Falls, Billings Bridge Shopping Centre, and more. Spannovation performed the assembly of the 65-meter-long truss span on behalf of the erector, ES Fox.

The assembly was carried out using a GROVE TMS9000E crane, which handled a maximum lift load of 21MT and a telehandler for stability of individual truss planes. The process included lifting and securing individual truss plane sections onto temporary supports, connecting them sequentially, and installing bracing and stringers.

The assembly sequence began with the initial assembly, where one-third of the span was assembled on four corner supports and two bracing supports. Next, the mid-section assembly took place, during which the next third of the span was assembled, and the two sections were spliced together. Finally, the last third of the span was assembled and spliced to complete the truss.

The truss was squared using survey marks, and angles were tack welded for stability. Twelve temporary supports were set at specific elevations to facilitate the assembly of the three truss sections and to account for truss pre-camber. The two bracing supports used in the first section were reused for the subsequent sections. The truss had significant camber, resulting in an elevation difference of approximately 600mm between the end and middle temporary supports. This needed to be captured accurately to facilitate splicing.

Assembly Video Link: https://youtu.be/OnhBGLzyvUw