Bridges & Structures

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Creating lasting connections

Bridges are an essential part of our transportation infrastructure—helping move goods to market and get us to where we need to be. Not only do they need to be highly functional, but they must also fit their local setting.

We design safe, innovative bridges that become critical links in our transportation networks. Our aim? Bringing together community stakeholders and experts from across various fields to create valuable assets for the communities they serve.

We also maintain, rehabilitate, and manage existing bridges to preserve their health and safety. Our approach includes diligent inspection programs and strategic maintenance plans to help extend a bridge’s life.

By providing services that address all stages of the lifecycle, we ensure that new and existing bridges will provide safe passage for travelers and support our communities.

Taking the difficulty out of long span and complex bridge design

Complex and long-span bridges bring unique challenges. They act as landmarks for their region—with some known worldwide for their feats of engineering. They must also function properly, connecting roads over difficult terrain. We understand the complexities of these bridges and the nuances that come with being an iconic structure. Along with safety and functionality, we strive for a contextual approach, often melding cultural components into our designs and creating a signature bridge the community can be proud of. Learn More

Engineers on Rope

A conversation with Stantec's Ryan Nataluk about our Rope Access Engineering services.

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Ryan Nataluk: You wouldn't just buy a car and never put new tires on it or do an oil change with it. Well bridges and infrastructure, they need their oil changed every once in a while to keep them up and running.

Kip Skabar: A typical bridge inspection is to actually have an engineering judgment according to an established set of criteria In this case, there's over 40 different bridge component types that have to be evaluated. The only way to access some of these components is by industrial rope access in this case

Marie-Andreé Paulhus: When I was studying, I was a rock climber. I didn't know much about “rope access engineer.” they talked to me about they did rope access and I was like, "What? That's amazing. I want to do that."

Niall Eivers: There's a lot of different tasks that's involved, different personnel. We have crews of 8 to 10 people on-site at one time, different types of equipment machinery.

Kip: There's not too many firms out there that actually have that expertise to put engineers up close and personal with cable-stayed structures such as this at high elevations.

Ryan: we're inspectors first and we're climbers second. We use the climbing as a tool to inspect. You need to know material properties of steel, concrete, timber, so you know when they sit in the elements over time, how they deteriorate, and most importantly, how our clients can repair them or protect them. I've climbed many mountains around the world and dropped into a lot of caves. and so Once I learned that I could actually use my skills to perform, use my climbing skills to perform engineering, it was exciting for me.

Kip: By doing an inspection like this, we're actually setting providing a set of baseline data in order to help us better manage the asset over its lifespan. we're following the Ministry standards for bridge inspection in such a way that the condition ratings are applied in a very similar manner by qualified inspectors so that that inspection form can be compared to all the other precedent type of bridge inspections that have been done, and therefore, the end result is much more valuable to the city.

Steve Brown: It was interesting, when we did go out to tender, Stantec were the only ones that actually had climbers onboard. The rest we're going to be doing it by binoculars and by what they called a visual inspection. I think just by having climbers, we're getting a closer inspection, a far greater inspection.

Kip: I’m really excited to bring the team together today and its really rewarding to see everything happening very safely and going off according to our plan. Hopefully you’ll see Stantec inspectors one day hanging off of other cables in the area, and we’ll be doing it safely and we’ll be helping our clients to better manage their structure assets over the entire lifespan of the bridge.

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Keeping bridges healthy at optimal lifecycle costs

Constant exposure to a diverse range of weather conditions and artificial hazards can affect a bridge’s ability to provide safe, uninterrupted service. Through our structural health monitoring and live load testing services, we provide you with reliable condition assessments and capacity reviews. These reports reflect as-built, in-service conditions and provide advance warning of performance issues—helping you make well-informed decisions to optimally maintain your bridge and other structural assets. Read More

Maximizing safety and service life with bridge management systems

Keeping track of your assets isn’t always easy, but it is manageable. Our advanced bridge management systems (BMS) helps bridge owners begin the right activity, to the right bridge, at the right time, and at the right cost. Beyond just an inventory or inspection tool, BMS allows our clients to analyze individual bridge elements, entire bridges, or bridge networks to proactively manage inventory. This systematic approach allows for optimal allocation of financial resources and increased safety for bridge users. Learn More

Services


Bridge Inspection & Assessment Inspections extend bridge lifespans.
Bridge Management System Bridge Management System (BMS) gives transportation agencies the tools to review and manage their assets and networks, forecasting costs and projects into the future through deterioration-based modelling.
Tunneling To deliver solutions that provide the best value, we focus on risk avoidance and mitigation with robust management programs that maximize constructability.

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