In the Spring of 2019, an ice jam in the Tobique river caused the smaller Odell river to back up. Large sections of ice then pushed the existing bridge off of its foundations. Located at the northern end of the Appalachian Mountain Range, the bridge was a vital crossing point on a popular section of the Province of New Brunswick recreational trail network near the village of Plaster Rock in New Brunswick, Canada. Its owners, New Brunswick’s Department of Energy and Resources (NBDERD), decided it would be more expeditious and economical in the longer term to completely remove the old structure, rebuild the foundations and install a new bridge.
Design Engineers, Hilcon Limited, came up with a solution for innovative foundations which allow the bridge to be lifted, should the river ever back up again, thereby preventing it from being pushed out of position.
A key design feature of the new bridge is a specially modified raker-less transom at either end. Each side is embedded, and if ice does touch the structure, it will move up and down, but not laterally. In effect, the modified transoms allow the bridge to slide up the sides of the extended curtain walls in high water, and slide back down when the water level has dropped.
A 70 foot (21.34m) long modular Acrow bridge was installed as a permanent replacement by Vail Civil Contractors Ltd. The project, which began in October 2020, was completed in only a few weeks, opening up the trail once again for the snowmobiler, just in time for the first snowfall of the year.
