Confined spaces and a variety of weather conditions set the stage for GHD inspectors and engineers to carve a niche in the Canadian transportation sector.
Highway 407 ETR is the world’s first all-electronic, barrier-free toll highway, stretching 108 km from Burlington (in the west) to Pickering (in the east) of the greater Ontario, Canada area. Our Client, Highway 407 ETR, retained GHD to conduct biennial inspections on 243 bridges, 109 culverts, and 9 retaining walls, to remain compliant with the legislative requirements of The Public Transportation and Highway Act – Regulation 104/97. Select bridges were chosen to receive bridgemaster and confined space inspections involving the specialized equipment and staff of sub consultants.
We conducted our inspections of structures on a limited access toll freeway in a variety of weather and traffic conditions. A traffic control plan was employed involving truck mounted attenuators (TMA’s) to protect inspectors at high risk locations. In addition, we also developed a MS Access database program that mirrors the MTO/OGRA OBMS program for inputting of OSIM data and inspections into an electronic format.
In addition, a confined space rescue team was used for the inspection of multiple culverts and box girder bridges. Our team of inspectors are comprehensively trained and include their extensive experiences in these specialty services. While many engineering firms sub-contract the inspection of dangerous or hard-to-reach locations in confined spaces, we can fulfill the complete range of confined space inspections from the beginning-to-end of the project in order to meet our clients’ needs. We are one of the largest groups of engineers and technicians with a specialty in bridge and culvert inspection serving the Ontario area. Our lead inspectors have over 29 years of consistently providing quality inspections that meet the budgetary and time parameters of Highway 407 ETR.
Outcome
- Biennial inspections
- Visual inspections of 407 ETR’s 243 bridges, 109 culverts, 9 retaining wall assets
- Confined space inspections of culverts and box girder bridges
- Traffic control planning
- MS Access database programming for inputting data into electronic format