Groat Road: Will girders straighten when crane lifts them?

Will the girders flex back into place?

That question will be on Barry Belcourts mind Tuesday morning, and on the minds of thousands of people whove been following the trials and tribulations of the 102nd Avenue bridge over Groat Road.

Because if those massive steel girders straighten themselves out, then Groat Road could be open again maybeby the end of this week.

Thats the best-case scenario, the citys branch manager of road design and construction told reporters Monday.

Work crews on the site spent the weekend getting ready to answer that question.

First, a 1,200 tonne crane, one of only seven like it in North America, was put into the hot zone theposition to do the heavy lifting. Then the engineers moved inand did what they do best.

What we finalized and approved (on the weekend) was the cabling system to hook on to the girders, Belcourt said. Thats the part a lot of engineering went into, a lot of mathematical calculations.

Crews spent several hours on Monday hooking up what he called a very elaborate cable system to Girders 4 and 5.

Tuesday morning, comes the big lift

Tuesday morning, the crane will lift those two girders. The weight will be taken off slowly, Belcourt said.

Theyll be looking 360 (degrees), all eyes on, he said. There could be 20 people watching. Is anything moving? Because, youre just not going to jerk it and lift it up.

Asked what he hopes will happen, Belcourt said: That when we transfer the weight, that some of the girders may go back to their original state. Basically, if you were to take the weight off, within an hour or a couple of hours, you would see if the girders would have a chance for elasticity to take place for them to go back. Because, again, the girders arent bent. Theyre buckled.

"Theres a lot of elasticity in steel, he said. So when you take the pressure off, you could have one of two of those girders go right back to its original form. Without any damage.

If that happens, with a little luck,Groat Road could be open by the end of this week,"Belcourtsaid,

If everything went back in place, then we would do some additional bracing on Girder Six, which is being held right now then we would have to put Girder Seven in, square it all up, brace it.Then that would allow us, best case scenario, to open the road quicker than the April 7 deadline.

Each girder weighs 40 tons.

Dont forget. its 41 metres long. Thats like a football field. Thats a lot of steel. And again theyre buckled in the middle. Steel can go back. Will it go back? Thats what were going to find out tomorrow.

Belcourt was asked if the public could have confidence those buckled girders, if they do they straighten out, will still be safe to use on a bridge built to last a century.

They would be approved by a whole team of engineers who deal with steel, he said. But at the end of the day, its two-fold. You can stamp a girder, say'that it is okay'.

"But at the end of the day, as an owner, is the city going to accept that? Thats another discussion for down the road.

If the girders dont straighten out, well,then its back to the original plan, which calls for the bridge to reopen by April 7.

In that case, the engineers would spend the rest of this week determining what to do with each girder.

Week three of the plan would see crews dissembling the still-buckled girders and hauling them away.

For the next 24 hours, then, safe to say that all eyes will be glued to Girders Four and Five.