Structural engineers are assessing a section of concrete retaining wall, which collapsed last week on a new road interchange in the southern interior of British Columbia.
staff writer
Structural engineers are assessing a section of concrete retaining wall, which collapsed last week on a new road interchange in the southern interior of British Columbia.
“The forensic review of the collapse that is trying to determine what happened is still underway,” said Kevin Baskin, chief bridge engineer with the B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure.
“So, at this point in time, it would be speculation to conclude what has happened.”
A section of the wall on the Westside Road Interchange in Kelowna gave way on Nov. 20, spilling dirt fill onto one of the southbound lanes of Highway 97, underneath the overpass.
Structural engineers from Urban Systems are assessing the wall area and the structure for the ministry to help determine the appropriate course of action.
According to Baskin, Ledcor, the original contractor on the project, has also mobilized a team of engineers to assess the collapse. This team includes engineers from SSL, the supplier of the retaining wall.
“They are responsible for the design of the retaining wall,” explained Baskin. “They will look at what happened and come up with a repair scheme.” The design consultant for the overpass also has engineering experts assessing the structure.
“We want to review the design calculations and methodology, the construction procedure and methodology and the material that was used to make up the wall system,” said Baskin.
“We certainly will be looking at the failure of the wall connection very closely.” The wall system on the road interchange was a mechanically stabilized earth wall. This is a facing system that is connected to and held in place by steel mesh and soil reinforcement.
The steel mesh is connected to the facing panels and the soil reinforcement is placed in layers all the way up the wall.
The Ministry of Transportation has also been monitoring an abutment supported by the wall system, but there has been no movement.
The Westside Road Interchange was temporarily closed to traffic to allow for the engineering assessment. While the assessment and clean-up takes place, traffic southbound on Highway 97 is diverted up the southbound ramp, north on Westside Road, on to Nancee Way and then back to Highway 97.
Construction of the Westside Road Interchange began in 2009 and the overpass opened to traffic late last month.
The projects were managed by the Westbank First Nation and delivered by Ledcor Construction.
The overall value of the Westside Road Interchange project is $41.8 million, with funding from the provincial and federal governments.
British Columbia invested $30.8 million, with a federal contribution of $11 million from the Building Canada Fund.
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