BrandSafway engineers new Truss Frame System

Bow River Bridge under construction

BrandSafway’s Major Projects Group and the Infrastructure Services Group were recently chosen to design and build an under-bridge traveling platform to access the final construction stages of the Bow River Bridge twinning project in Alberta, Canada.

The triangle-shaped Truss Frame System solution, which was custom-designed by BrandSafway for Flatiron-Aecon, has retractable extensions which allows the system to travel around piers without having to dismantle the platform. The platform consists of two half-truss frame platforms mounted to the manually operating top bridge deck carriages.

Traditional Systems Scaffold, located on each half of the fixed truss platform, provides workers with safe access to the underside of the bridge segments Patent-pending launching extensions, which are now available to the bridge market, will allow the entire 112-foot length and 32-foot width C-frame structure to move back and forth along the 1,542-foot length of the bridge.

BrandSafway’s new Truss Frame System

“This solution proves, once again, that BrandSafway can meet the widest range of project demands, where safety and efficiency are high priorities,” said Alex Di Domenico, managing director, BrandSafway, MPG. “We started working with Flatiron-Aecon in 2019 at the beginning of the Bow River Bridge twinning project by providing stairs and engineering services. Now, we’re proud to be designing and fabricating an innovative access solution for its completion.”

Upon completion, the project will twin the Bow River Bridge on the Northwest segment of the Calgary Ring Road and widen about 1.25 miles of Northwest Stoney Trail from Crowchild Trail to Scenic Areas Link. When finished, the entire Calgary Ring Road will provide travelers with 62 miles of free-flow travel.

The under-bridge access platform will be used through 2023.