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Clearing the cables: Alex Fraser Bridge
Clearing the cables: Alex Fraser Bridge receives cable-collar upgrade to prevent ice bombs
By Bailey Hildebrand-Russell
Winter 2016 in Metro Vancouver brought weather conditions, including temperature cycling and wind, that impacted the area’s cable-stayed bridges like never before. On the Alex Fraser Bridge, snow and ice fell off the
All photos supplied by Province of B.C./ Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure. All photos supplied by Province of B.C./Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure.
stay cables, raining down on vehicles travelling across the Fraser River. What came to be known as ice bombs to both the public and the media led to closures on the bridge. It was the first time the bridge was closed due to falling snow and ice since construction was finished 30 years prior, according to the British Columbia Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure.
The temporary closures were in place on Dec. 10 and 12, 2016, and again on Feb. 5, 2017, according to the ministry.
While the ice bombs are a rare occurrence, happening with the right combination of warming and freezing with wind at the right speed and angle, the B.C. government is implementing a preventative measure. In late January and early February 2017, the ministry began testing a cable-collar drop system, similar to the one already in place on the Port Mann Bridge, which also crosses the Fraser River.
The configuration of the cables differed between the two bridges, meaning that the drop system may not have worked as well on the Alex Fraser – the Alex Fraser’s cables run parallel to traffic and not over them like on the Port Mann, according to a Jan. 27, 2017 news release from the ministry. The cables are also smaller in diameter and are configured at different angles.
The collars around each cable are manually released, brushing snow and ice off the cables, preventing large chunks from falling onto vehicles below.
“There are 192 cables on the bridge and each cable will have one stopper, one anchor and 10 collars,” a ministry spokesperson said in an email. “The stoppers at the bottom of each cable are quite a bit larger and more
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complex than those on the Port Mann Bridge system. To ensure the system’s effectiveness, it will be manually operated by crews of rope access technicians who will physically load and deploy the collars as needed.”
Three B.C. contractors were awarded the contract to design and install the system, the ministry said. Eurovia BC of Surrey began installing the system in October 2017. The system’s parts were manufactured by Valid Manufacturing Ltd. from Salmon Arm and Hercules SLR Inc. from Langley. Eurovia BC began installing the rings on the low-angle cables first, as those accumulate the most ice and snow. As of February 2018, the ministry said work on those cables should be wrapped up by the end of the month, while installation of all cable collars is expected to be complete by the end of March.
On Feb. 23, 2018, the BC government announced that crews dropped the collars for the first time, successfully clearing approximately five centimetres of snow. At times, clearing snow from the cables requires temporary lane closures – a minor inconvenience compared to falling ice chunks.
The ministry of transportation and infrastructure said the total cost of the project is around $5 million, with an estimated annual operating cost of around $500,000 weatherdependent. •
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