Officials with the City of Edmonton said the closure of a section of Groat Road would continue until Wednesday, after crews encountered challenges as they tried to demolish the 102 Avenue bridge.
The 102 Avenue bridge over Groat Road was shut down on July 1, and over the next 15 months, the more than century-old bridge will be replaced.
However, crews ran into problems over the weekend as they attempted to tear down the old structure – officials said weather delayed the work, and then their initial plans to demolish the bridge in one piece.
“It didn’t fall the way we wanted it to,” Matt Boiko with the City of Edmonton said. “We wanted it to fall flat then we were going to drag it down and cut it into pieces and haul it off site.
On Monday, crews continued to carry out Plan B – or demolishing the bridge piece by piece.
“They drop the bigger chunks down below, and then these back hoes, have snippers and vice-like jaws and they go and cut the steel up into smaller pieces,” Boiko said.
As a result, a major thoroughfare into the river valley remained shut down Monday morning – despite city plans to keep Groat Road open during busy weekday commutes.
Now, city officials said Groat Road, between 107 Avenue and River Valley Road should open again Wednesday morning.
“We just had that one glitch and we are doing whatever we have to do to get that done,” Boiko said, adding crews have continued to work around the clock since Saturday morning.
More on the 102 Avenue bridge replacement project has been posted on the City of Edmonton website.
With files from Sarah Richter
