The document summarizes the engineered process for rehabilitating the Peace Bridge connecting Buffalo, NY and Fort Erie, ON. It describes the bridge's history and construction. Extensive planning and safety measures are required. The rehabilitation involves demolishing parts of the bridge through precutting, sawcutting, and removal one stage at a time to maintain traffic flow. Precutting, cutting, and removing the railing and sidewalk are described in detail. Temporary supports are installed to safely remove the deck in stages. Strict calculations and protocols ensure the safety of workers and the public during the multi-stage bridge rehabilitation.

1. Engineered Process of
Bridge Rehabilitation
(Peace Bridge)
Buffalo and Fort Erie
Public Bridge Authority

2. Introduction
• Peace Bridge connects the US & Canada at Buffalo, NY
and Fort Erie, ON
• Crosses the Niagara River at the east end of Lake Erie
and the truss span crosses the Black Rock Canal

3. The Peace Bridge…
• construction began in 1925 and opened to the public in
the spring of 1927.
• is three lanes wide, 5,800 feet long, consisting of a
through-truss, five arch spans, and girder approach
spans at either end.

4. Pre-construction
• Before implementing any construction, numerous
amounts of field verification must be conducted

5. Field Verification
• Request for Information or “RFIs” are exchanged
between the general contractor, designers, fabricators,
and sub contractors

6. Safety and Accessibility
• Steel decking with the attached railing provides
accessibility to the underbelly of the bridge and is done
so by abiding to strict safety regulations

7. Planning & Safety Measures
• Some planning consists of traffic control & signage
• As well as placement of barrier to separate the work
zone from the general public

8. Demolition
• Before demolition can commence, markings need to be
made to let ironworkers and laborers know where to cut.
• For Stage 1 (Oct. 2016 – May 2017), the north- railing,
sidewalk, fascia, stringers, and decking are to be
removed.
• Since the bridge remains active during rehabilitation, the
project is broken into stages, and the deck is taken off
one lane at a time.
• Numerous calculations need to be made for each stage
to account for the removed superstructure

9. Precutting Fascia Girders
• Fascia girders are precut to get ready for the removal of
sidewalk slabs

10. Cutting and Removing Railing
• Railing is also precut simultaneously while fascia is
being precut
• The railing is then finally fully cut when its ready to be
removed.

11. Saw-cutting Sidewalk
• Maximum spans are determined and lines are drawn out
for saw-cutting (this isn’t a complete cut)
• Slurry is captured to abide by environmental
requirements

12. Saw-cutting Sidewalk

13. Sidewalk Removal (Arch Spans)

14. Sidewalk Removal (Through Truss)

15. Sidewalk Detail (Through Truss)

16. Sidewalk Removal (US Approach)

17. Sidewalk Removal
• Holes are drilled into the sidewalk for rigging and to
determine thickness
• Weights are calculated and centre of gravity is
approximated

18. • Once the rigging is set, the slab is held and fascia
girders and slab cut lines are completely cut
• The pick is then made when everything is free
Sidewalk Removal

19. Sidewalk Removal

20. Cutting Floorbeams at Fascia Splice
• Floorbeam ends are cutoff to remove the fascia splice
• Connection is grinded
down, ready for field drilling
and primer

21. Fascia Stringer Connections Field
Drilled and Primed

22. Fascia Stringer and Post Brackets
Temporarily Bolted Up

23. Conclusion
• Beyond the work term duration members will be torqued
to psi specified in the contract
• along with moving the barrier out to close down the north
lane for long term during the first stage of rehabilitation
• Then staging stringers must be erected in place to allow
for the removal of the deck. The stringers will act as a
support for the deck so that it can be picked in a safely
manner.
• Then saw-cutting the deck (roadway) will be performed
along with removing the deck.
That concludes the work in Stage 1