The century-old Bascule bridge in Kingston, Ont., was demolished in June 2024.
An analysis of the LaSalle Causeway lift bridge concluded removing supports and deviation from the work procedure caused it to fail. The contractor for the project says it followed plans from an engineering firm and doesn't believe it's responsible for what happened. A temporary span is set to replace it later this week, by which time the LaSalle Causeway will have been closed for more than six months.
LCI said it was simply following plans prepared by engineers and does not believe it bears any responsibility for what happened. The buckling ultimately led to the demolition of a bridge relied upon by thousands of people to cross the Cataraqui River daily. It's caused months of headaches for commuters, stranded tour boats and limited traffic to downtown businesses.CBC obtained a copy of the bridge failure analysis through access to information laws.
The report author described the lack of mention of lacing having been removed from the bottom as one of the "inconsistencies" between LCI's report and his observations, noting "photos taken immediately after the incident clearly indicate that 2.9 m of bottom lacing had indeed been removed." LCI did not dispute that finding. Instead, vice president John Almeida said the failure happened while it was following plans it received from Parsons.
The contractor submitted a Work Method Statement to Parsons for review and "stood by the engineering," he said. That means the steps followed to replace it were critical too, and would require planning to maintain its stability during repairs, the document continues. In the copy of the analysis PSPC provided to CBC, the entire work plan is redacted. However, correspondence between LCI and the department that the contractor shared includes what appears to be an unredacted version of the plan.
"It was always intended to remove all lattice top and bottom after the installation of the temporary channel diaphragms … because that was Parsons design to provide stability of member 15-17," its email to PSPC reads in part. MacDougall said he spoke with engineers from Parsons, who emphasized a requirement in their plans that the maximum unsupported length for the member should remain under 1.45 metres at all times.
In its emails to the government, LCI describes the discussion about a need for external bracing as a "clear admission" by Parsons that they made a mistake. The message added PSPC does not anticipate seeking any further analysis into what caused the bridge failure.
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