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T.Y. Lin International Wins 2016 ACEC Washington Platinum Award for Port Mann Bridge

T.Y. Lin International Wins 2016 ACEC Washington Platinum Award for Port Mann Bridge

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T.Y. Lin International (TYLI), a globally recognized full-service infrastructure consulting firm, announces that the Port Mann Bridge in Vancouver, British Columbia, has won the 2016 Engineering Excellence Platinum Award from the American Council of Engineering Companies of Washington (ACEC Washington), capturing the top honor in the competition. The design-build project is the centerpiece of the Port Mann Bridge/Highway 1 Improvement Project (PMH1), the largest transportation infrastructure project in the history of the Canadian province to address escalating traffic congestion throughout Greater Vancouver. TYLI served as Chief Design Engineer for the cable-stayed Port Mann Bridge and Design Manager for the overall Port Mann Bridge Project. The firm was also responsible for verifying the design-builder construction quality records and certifying constructed works prior to operation.

The TYLI team worked in close partnership with Transportation Investment Corporation, a crown corporation that serves as owner and operator of the project, and the design-build contractor, Kiewit-Flatiron Partnership. With a 470-meter-long main span, 190-meter-long side spans, and a 52-meter-wide deck, the Port Mann Bridge is the largest main span crossing in Western Canada, the second longest cable-stayed bridge in North America, and one of the widest bridges in the world.

The Port Mann Bridge is located near Canada’s most earthquake-prone region and replaces an older five-lane structure at one of the country’s busiest crossings. The outstanding engineering teammates of TYLI included IBT, Shannon & Wilson, PBX, RWDI, Northwest Hydraulics, Levelton, Cooper Zeitz, and Westmar. The project includes the 850-meter-long bridge over the Fraser River, a 350-meter-long segmental box girder south approach in Surrey, and an 820-meter-long segmental box girder north approach in Coquitlam. Carrying 10 vehicle lanes (five lanes in each direction) and a barrier-separated bicycle-pedestrian path, the new bridge reduces drive time for its users by as much as 50%.

“The Port Mann Bridge provides approximately 100,000 daily users with a safer, more convenient commute and represents British Columbia’s investment in its dynamic economic future,” said David Goodyear, P.E., S.E., PEng, TYLI Senior Vice President and Chief Bridge Engineer. “T.Y. Lin International is privileged to have worked on such a majestic transportation lifeline structure for the people of British Columbia.”

The Port Mann Bridge features two 163-meter-high single mast concrete towers and a three-span superstructure, which is a composition of two separate, five-lane deck structures separated by a median where the two towers are located. Each deck structure has two planes of stay cables that are supported off of a single central pylon. Along with providing a dramatic profile, TYLI’s unique bridge design allowed a new 10-lane span within the right-of-way allowed for the five-lane twinned bridge envisioned in reference documents.

Photo Credit: Thomas Heinser Studio

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