You can’t control Mother Nature.
It’s a major lesson Kimberly Haddow, a senior project manager with Graham, has learned while working on complex projects in and around Alberta’s rivers and streams.
“Just yesterday we woke and found four feet of water all over our site at a small creek,” she said. “What you have to do is be able to plan for risks, but you can’t plan to control everything.”
Even before shovels are in the ground, the planning and problem solving begins.
Haddow explained there are strict rules about what work can be done in and around waterways and sometimes there only a few weeks out of the year in-river work can be done.
These are called restricted activity periods. This is especially true for rivers with spawning fish or boat traffic. There may also be restrictions around what types of materials or methods can be used.
“These restrictions dictate our plan and how we manage our risk,” said Haddow. “Graham plans really well in advance and takes the time to really understand the risk and conduct a realistic risk assessment.”
Haddow said she has been called a “negative Nancy” for her attention to possible project risks, but she prefers the title “realistic Rachel.”
Planning and risk assessment became critical during the Crowchild Trail Short-Term Improvement project – a significant renovation of a 60-year-old bridge spanning Calgary’s Bow River.
The team essentially was tasked with building a new wider bridge and attaching it to the old one. However, restrictions meant they couldn’t completely stop bridge traffic or do any in-stream work. Instead, Graham devised a plan to complete all pier work from specially designed suspended platforms.
“That’s a challenge you have to plan for during the bid,” said Haddow. “You have to know, if you don’t have the ability to work in the river, otherwise you could end up spending a lot of money.”
With the platforms on the bridge, the team had to very carefully plan and sequence concrete pours as to not overload or unbalance weight on the aging bridge.
But all the planning in the world can’t stand in the way of Mother Nature.
Haddow encountered this in 2013 while working on Calgary’s St. Patrick Island Pedestrian Bridge. The Bow River swelled in a historic flood event. The water picked up construction trailers, carrying them hundreds of metres downstream and wiping out sections of temporary shoring that were supporting the bridge deck.
“It was pretty devastating standing at the bank with all our carpenters watching their work wash away,” said Haddow. “It looked like the apocalypse. There was sediment on everything.”
But three days later they were back on the island to start problem solving.
Some deck sections had to be demolished and the whole sequence had to be changed. The team also got emergency permission to work in the river outside of approved times. While the flood added nine months of extra work, the project was still completed.
Experience is also a major difference maker when determining what kinds of specialized equipment and procedures to use.
On the Gaetz Avenue bridge rehabilitation over the Red Deer River Graham’s team used Aqua Barrier – inflatable water-filled bags – to do work around around the pier.
However, Haddow noted this method wouldn’t work on rockier riverbeds, making knowledge of the province’s rivers key.
Haddow explained when things go wrong, the big difference-maker is people.
“You have to know what you are working with to be able to plan,” she said. “That’s definitely what Graham brings with our people. Having those tools and having that organization of people helps us. We call on people in other divisions and they call on us. We have such a depth of talent on our bench.”
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